BRT grid planned in Delhi

Delhi will be getting no respite from the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor. The Sheila Dikshit-led government has renamed it as the Integrated Transport Corridor System. And this time it will be covering more than 200km in an alignment that will encircle the city, intersecting with the Metro network at several places. And unlike the Ambedkar Nagar-Delhi Gate corridor, the experimentation with lanes will be kept to the minimum. As RK Verma, transport commissioner, says: “These will be site specific projects, where the existing lanes will be disturbed as little as possible.” The 14 corridors – for which the government has asked for detailed project reports (DPRs) – cover a large number of areas. From Karawal Nagar, Dilshad Garden, Karkari More and ISBT Anand Vihar in east Delhi to Narela and Tilak Nagar in the west to Jorbagh, Palam More and Badarpur in the south, the corridors will cover the city much like Ring Road. “The corridors will cover 232km and will have 83 interchange points with the Metro,” revealed Verma. The bus stops at these interchange points will be integrated with the Delhi Metro network. Unlike in the case of the first corridor, the government has roped in two agencies to prepare the DPRs. While the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS) will undertake seven of the 14 proposed corridors, the PWD has been asked to complete the rest. “The DPRs will enable us to decide where the interchange points can be located as well as identify areas that are very congested, so as to avoid inconvenience to people,” said a transport department official. All 14 corridors are expected to be finished over the next few years, at an approximate cost of Rs 4,000 crore. Not only do the corridors cover areas that have heavy traffic but also attempt to connect far-flung areas. For instance, one of the corridors goes through Connaught Place, connecting it to ISBT Anand Vihar. Another connects Badarpur with IGI Airport, going via Arjangarh. Yet another corridor starts from Sarai Kale Khan on Ring Road and connects with Jorbagh in south Delhi while the corridor starting from National Stadium near India Gate ends at Ghazipur on the UP-Delhi border. Said Verma: “The corridors will be built by the land-owning agency, be it PWD or MCD. The agency will then hand over the corridor to the transport department, which in turn will hand over management of the corridor to DIMTS.” At present, the Ambedkar Nagar-Delhi Gate corridor is also being managed by DIMTS. He added that the second corridor is also expected to start soon. The Karawal Nagar-Shastri Park corridor is 15km long and will be covering Yamuna Vihar, Gandhi Nagar and Mori Gate. While the DPR has been approved by UTTIPEC, it will be presented to the cabinet after the budget session. Work on the corridor, which is expected to cost Rs 18-20 crore per km, is scheduled to start in August, if approved by the cabinet. The grand plan is to have 35 more corridors, including these 14, in Phase III at a total cost of Rs 12000 crore. It will then cover a total of 600 km.