Chennai Metro begins work in phase I extension project

Construction work will begin on Wednesday, with 25% of the workforce initially, officials said

After a gap of nearly a month and a half, Chennai Metro Rail has now resumed preparatory work at Chennai Central and Wimco Nagar in north Chennai for the phase I extension project.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), the basic cleaning and other preparatory work began on Monday in the ‘Central Square’ and the Wimco Nagar depot.

“The actual construction work will start on Wednesday. We will gradually expand the work to other sites in the phase I extension project like building of stations and other related work. We will have only about 25-30% of workforce in the construction site now, till the situation improves,” an official said.

There will be a special safety team that will monitor the movement of workers inside the site to ensure that they continue to wear masks throughout the day and maintain physical distancing. The CMRL plans to have mobile hand-washing facilities at various points in the sites. “There will be physical distancing in the bus too, when workers are brought to the site,” another official said.

Also, the workers will be permitted into the sites only after temperature checks and if they don’t complain of any illness. Their camps are constantly disinfected too, to ensure there are no issues, the official said.

Chennai Metro Rail had planned to start train services in the phase I extension project that covers 9 km of north Chennai in June but that will now be delayed, officials said.

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