NEW DELHI: In a historic step involving Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and enhanced indigenization for the metro rail systems in India, the Delhi Metro has awarded the first contract for the lease and maintenance of lifts and escalators for the three priority corridors under its ongoing Phase-IV expansion.
This is a first-of-its-kind financial model in this sector adopted in India for the funding of public infrastructure project based on PPP model wherein M/s Johnson Lifts, Chennai (i.e. vendor) will initially bear the entire cost for design, manufacturing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the lifts and escalators, and will maintain them for a period of 15 years.
In addition, these lifts are fully indigenised and for the first time escalators will be indigenised up to a level of 65%. Till now, the escalators for heavy-duty applications were being fully imported. This will give a further boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Under this model, DMRC will release monthly payments of lease and maintenance charges once these lifts and escalators become operational and the release of maintenance payments will be linked to the key performance parameters defined in the contracts. The entire upkeep and maintenance will be handled by the Contractor during these 15 years. The systems will be installed with the provision of their 24X7 online monitoring.
This lease model will also enhance the quality, efficiency and capacity of lifts and escalators to be commissioned under Ph-IV. For the first time in India, the Metro systems will have lifts with a huge carrying capacity of around 20 commuters at a time. In earlier phases, DMRC had lifts with a carrying capacity of only eight to 13 passengers. CCTV cameras will also be installed inside the lifts for the first time.