Underground ducts planned to make Delhi safer, says CM

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. | Photo Credit: ANI The Delhi Cabinet has approved a proposal to build multi-utility ducts (MUDs) across the city, with shared underground corridors for various essential services to make the city safer and future-ready, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said on Thursday (September 3, 2026).At suitable locations, these ducts would be used to house electrical cables, water pipelines, gas lines, fire hydrant networks and other essential utility services, read the CMO statement. The MUDs would also help reduce accidental damage to utility lines during excavation and improve coordination among various civic and utility agencies, it added.The statement quoted CM Rekha Gupta as saying that the MUDs would reduce the need to repeatedly dig up and repair roads, minimise traffic disruptions, reduce inconvenience and help maintain the structural strength of roads more effectively.“We want to create infrastructure that is safe, well-organised and sustainable, keeping future requirements in mind. The multi-utility duct is part of this vision,” Ms. Gupta said. The CM said the system would enable better coordination among different agencies and create a more organised framework for developing underground utility networks in Delhi. With shared underground corridors available, maintenance of utility networks and their future expansion would become easier and faster. The MUDs would also help reduce the possibility of accidental damage to utility lines during excavation and improve coordination among various civic and utility agencies, as per the Delhi Government. Ms. Gupta also said that in a rapidly developing metropolis like Delhi, repeated excavation of roads by different utility agencies according to their individual requirements is a serious urban problem.“With shared underground routes available for different services through multi-utility ducts, the need to repeatedly dig up and repair roads would be significantly reduced. This would minimise traffic disruptions, reduce inconvenience to citizens and help maintain the structural strength of roads more effectively,” she said. Published - September 04, 2026 07:15 am IST