Rao Inderjit Singh, Union minister of state for planning and Gurugram MP, has asked Central and state agencies to fast-track long-pending metro and road infrastructure projects in the city, stressing that further delays will only escalate costs and worsen congestion.

Chairing a review meeting on Thursday, Singh directed Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC) to examine the feasibility of a new metro corridor along the Dwarka Expressway, linking Kherki Daula with the Airport Metro Line, while also pushing civic bodies to remove bottlenecks delaying both road expansion and metro connectivity.

“It is important that metro projects are conceived and executed in Gurugram at the earliest. The metro link along the Dwarka expressway is a natural progression of the Airport metro line and it should be extended upto Kherki Daula, where it will meet with the proposed RRTS rail of NCRTC and also converge with the Pachgaon metro project of HMRTC. It is crucial that the metro projects should not be delayed as has happened for the Old Gurugram Metro line,” said the minister, adding that directions have been issued to all the departments to remove the bottlenecks for road and metro projects on priority.

A spokesperson for the minister said that during the meeting officials from ministry of urban development and DMRC stated that a ridership study on the proposed Dwarka expressway route will be soon conducted.

“The officials also informed in the meeting that the work has also begun on preparing the detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed metro route from the airport line to Iffco Chowk,” he added.

The union minister also directed the civic agencies in Gurugram to remove bottlenecks in the construction of road between Hero Honda Chowk and Umang Bhardwaj Chowk, where the NHAI is upgrading the road to six lanes and the proposed metro line will pass through it.

During the meeting, the officials from GMDA informed that only one property with a stay order from court remained to be vacated on this stretch and the next date of court hearing is on September 23. “All the remaining structures and bottlenecks have been removed or these are being removed. The tender for shifting the power utilities and sub stations has also been floated,” said a senior government official aware of the matter.

During the meeting, the minister also discussed the RRTS project from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to SNB (Shahjahanpur, Neemrana, Behror) via Gurugram under the Namo Bharat Corridor. A district administration spokesperson said that Singh asked the NCRTC that the RRTS project should be extended to Bawal in Rewari district, beyond Dharuhera, as it is also a major industrial area.

The union minister also sought answers from officials present in the meeting regarding the delay in starting work on the Old Gurugram Metro line after the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone on February 24. He also said that the cost of the old Gurugram metro project, which was conceived in 2016, had doubled due to huge delays in the implementation of the project.