A day after the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) blamed the Delhi government for delaying the Metro Phase-IV project, the latter on Wednesday said the city administration’s cost in the expansion plan had indeed increased by about Rs1,850 crore.

In a statement issued by transport minister Kailash Gahlot’s office, the government accused the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) of repeatedly changing the cost of Phase-IV, which includes six corridors.

Stuck for more than two years, the project had on March 7 got the go-ahead from the Union Cabinet, which approved only three corridors— Aerocity to Tughlakabad, Janakpuri to RK Ashram and Mukundpur to Maujpur.“The statement issued by MoHUA on Tuesday seeks to justify the unilateral decisions taken by the government of India regarding a revision in the overall cost and various cost components of Delhi Metro Phase-IV, as well as an increase in the liability of GNCTD by about Rs1,850 crore, without taking the Government of NCT of Delhi into confidence,” read Delhi government statement.

The Delhi government had objected that its share of cost to build the three corridors had increased to Rs 7,844.70 crore from Rs 5,994.50 crore. In response, the ministry had said, “As per the proposal for the three corridors submitted by DMRC in January 2018 (the cost of which was proportionate to the cost of the six corridors approved by Delhi Cabinet earlier), the total liability of the city government was Rs 8,872 crore, whereas, as per the cost approved by the Centre in March, the total liability of Delhi government had come down by more than Rs 1,000 cr to Rs 7,844 crores.”

First Published: Apr 04, 2019 05:16 IST