Chennai Metro Phase II underground work faces 9-month delay

The construction of the underground section of Chennai Metro Rail's Phase II may get pushed back by around nine months, as there is a delay in the tender process. The initial deadline for the underground section was December 2025. Tenders for construction of a portion of an underground section and some underground stations were cancelled in December 2021 and are yet to be re-floated. Phase II project covers 118.9 km with 128 stations, including a 43 km underground section with 48 stations. A CMRL official said the tender for construction of an underground section from Kolathur to Nathamuni covering 5.6 km on corridor-5 was cancelled as there was a lack of takers for building the line. Officials said the few bids made were significantly higher than CMRL's estimate. We met with very poor response for the Kolathur-Nathamuni stretch primarily because of a JICA requirement that we must procure from Japanese companies or Indian companies or a joint venture of Japanese and Indian companies ... we will get clearance soon, the official said. JICA is funding construction of 52 km stretch in phase-2 from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur on corridor-3 and Madhavaram to CMBT on corridor-5.See also: Anand Vihar RRTS to be a first-of-its-kind underground stationMitsubishi to supply simulators for bullet train project