Days before the
Airport Metro Express was shut down temporarily, its operator Reliance
Infrastructure had warned the Urban Development Ministry that the operation of
the line was “unsafe” and slowing down of speed was “adversely impacting” it
financially.
Operations on the
23-km high-speed corridor were suspended on July 8 after Reliance Infra
detected cracks on the civil structure that were built by the Delhi Metro as
part of the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) agreement.
However, the Delhi
Metro had countered the argument saying the defective civil work issue is being
“played up” by the Reliance Infra “in order to create a case for getting out of
the Concession Agreement.”
These observations are
made in a Status Report on the corridor that Urban Development Minister Kamal
Nath had sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 11.
Reliance Infra
officials had met Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna and handed over a
set of photographs showing defects in civil structure, he said.
“DAMEPL (Delhi Airport
Metro Express Private Limited) informed that the operation of the project is
not only unsafe but also dangerous to life and property and as advised by DMRC
was continuing to operate the services at a reduced speed.
“However, due to the
decrease in speed, the ridership had been reduced substantially, thereby
adversely impacting the project financials,” Nath said, quoting a letter from
DAMEPL on June 22. PTI
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/article3651325.ece
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