Kolkata: The Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd (KMRCL) will start the work for construction of the proposed Mahakaran station — an integral part of the East-West Metro project from Salt Lake Sector V to Howrah Maidan from Sunday. 

The area would first be barricaded and the necessary traffic diversions will be enforced before starting the ground-level work for the station. 

The KMRCL, the implementing agency for the project, has already received the nod of the state government after they made a modified plan for the station. 

“There will be a larger space for the station than that planned earlier as the overground entries and exits had to be pushed beyond 100m from the nationally protected monument, Currency Building, as demanded by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),” a KMRCL official said. 

Addressing a press conference, KMRCL GM Satish Kumar said that a Metro station using “cut-and-cover” method takes a little more than three years to build. 

“We are hopeful of making the station fully operational by June 2020. We will be working hard for speedy completion and this will be one of the most critical phases of the work,” Mr Kumar said.

For the construction of the Mahakaran station and other Metro work in the area, 16 tram routes will be suspended over the next three years. 

“We have already paid Rs 10.95crore to the West Bengal Transport Corporation as loss of revenue for closure of tram services for three years,” Mr Kumar added.

Mr Kumar said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was likely to raise the construction cost of the East-West Metro. “GST will definitely raise the construction cost. But the exact amount of the rise is yet to be ascertained.” Mr Kumar said the total cost of the 16.55-km project had been pegged at Rs 4874 crore so far.