Chennai Metro’s Madhavaram-Taramani stretch opening delayed, likely by 2028

A large number of commuters eagerly looking forward to travel by Chennai Metro trains between Madhavaram and Taramani in the 118.9-km Phase II project may have to wait a bit longer as the construction work has been delayed by about a year-and-a-half. The stretch is likely to get ready only by 2028

A large number of commuters eagerly looking forward to travel by Chennai Metro trains between Madhavaram and Taramani in the 118.9-km Phase II project may have to wait a bit longer as the construction work has been delayed by about a year-and-a-half. The stretch is likely to get ready only by 2028.

Madhavaram to Taramani is a crucial stretch on the ₹61,843-crore Phase II project, which is a part of the Madhavaram-SIPCOT corridor (length: 45.8 km) passing through several key locations of Perambur, Chetpet, Nungambakkam, Gemini, Thousand Lights, Royapettah, Mandaiveli, Adyar and Taramani. Light House-Poonamallee (26.1 km) and Madhavaram-Sholinganallur (47 km) are the other two corridors in different stages of construction under Phase II project.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL), the Madhavaram-Taramani stretch will be underground and while the tunnelling work has been in progress, the construction of the stations has suffered a setback. They had to cancel six tenders — floated for building of stations along this stretch — in December 2021 as the bidders had given exorbitant quotes to carry out construction. Subsequently, they had to float fresh tenders and even had to make changes in the loan to have more competition in the bidding process and get reasonable quotes from firms, the officials said.

“A major portion of the funding comes as loan from an international bank. The loan conditions were stringent and some of the conditions had to be modified to allow more companies to participate. This was a time-consuming process and we received concurrence from the bank a few months ago. The tender process is almost coming to an end and we will finalise the contractors for building the stations along this stretch before the end of this month. We have been working to speed up the process and hoping to finish it as soon as we can,” an official said.

To build stations located between Madhavaram and Taramani, the CMRL has called for six tenders to divide the work. Tenders were split into six packages to ensure that work is executed faster by contractors and they include Madhavaram to Perambur, Ayanavaram to Kellys, KMC to Royapettah, Radhakrishnan Salai to Adyar, Adyar to Taramani and Kolathur to Nathamuni.

Meanwhile, officials said, the tunnelling work between Madhavaram and Taramani has been progressing well.