ND Metro helps city save 1167 cr : CRRI study

New Delhi, Jun 5: On the World Environment Day today, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said that it has achieved its environment goals and helped the city of Delhi save Rs 1167.36 crores in terms of social and economic benefits accrued.

Releasing a report by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) that has quantified these benefits, the DMRC said the city has gained as a result of saved passenger time and fuel cost, reduction in capital and operating cost of vehicles, reduction in environmental damage, accidents and less maintenance cost on infrastructure.

The amount will increase to Rs 2072.51 crores by the end of this year, a DMRC official said today.

These environmental and social benefits will help recover the full capital investment made in the construction of Phase I of the Delhi Metro Project by 2013, the DMRC said. This phase covering 65 km has now been completed.

Elaborating on the gains, the report said since the Metro began operations in December 2002, there has been a progressive increase in the reduction in daily vehicle demand due to an increase in the number of people using the Metro. Till last year, it has taken the load of 22697 vehicles and this share is projected to increase to 40,000 for all other modes of travel by the end of 2007.

Correspondingly, 16.6 lakh vehicle km will be saved till 2007 and this is likely to result in saving of various types such as maintenance cost of road vehicles by Rs 218 crore, fuel saving worth Rs 172 crore and saving in road maintenance cost of Rs 288 crore, the report said.

In terms of environmental improvement, the Metro has resulted in reduced consumption of petrol, diesel and CNG and till 2007, this figure will be 57858 tonnes out of which saving of 33,000 tonnes have already been accrued.

Reduced consumption in hydrocarbons has resulted in less emission of gases. Poisonous gases like CO, HC, NOX weighing 2275 tonnes have been saved till now, which will be 3968 tonnes by 2007 end, thus contributing to improving the overall environment in the city, it said.

The study also said travel conditions have improved as people in the city save 66 minutes every day at an average by travelling The Metro which has resulted in a saving of Rs 415 crores upto 2006 as their earning capacity time increases. This would increase to 725 crores by the end of 2007. The study estimates savings of 17.57 tera joules of human energy consumption upto 2006 which will increase to 28.63 tera joules by the end of 2007.

Highlighting the safety aspect, the study said the Delhi Metro is considered as one of the safest mode of Mass Transit with the latest safety systems such as Automatic Train Protection and Automatic Train Operations built into it. It has already helped in saving 280 lives upto 2006 which would have been lost if they had traveled on other modes of transport. This number would increase to total of 476 by the end of year 2007 as another 196 lives are expected to be saved this year itself.

''Thus, the socio-economic benefits of the metro project are multifaceted. Its fares are cheaper than other metros of the world.

The DMRC is generating profit from the first day of operating,'' the official said.

UNI