DMRC Awards ₹138.70 Cr Sanoth Depot to Lisha Engineers

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has moved the Rithala–Kundli corridor from sanctioned plan to deliverable schedule, awarding a ₹138.70 crore civil and infrastructure package for Sanoth Depot to Lisha Engineers Private Limited.

The scope covers depot buildings, workshops, inspection facilities and the supporting structures required to operate and maintain the line.

Depot readiness is a commissioning gate

Sanoth Depot is not a peripheral civil lot.

Trains cannot be stabled, tested or maintained until depot infrastructure is substantially complete, which places this package on the critical path for the corridor's commissioning sequence.

DMRC is front-loading depot works ahead of systems integration, a sequencing choice that protects the overall Phase 4 timeline.

Contracting logic

The award to Lisha Engineers Private Limited reflects DMRC's deliberate lot-sizing strategy: breaking corridor civil work into bankable packages that mid-sized contractors can competitively price and execute.

For Lisha Engineers, a Delhi-based contractor, the order strengthens its metro civil portfolio and positions it for follow-on packages on the same corridor.

Execution and interface risk

The principal delivery risk is interface coordination. Depot civil work must align with track, traction power, signalling and rolling stock interfaces that DMRC will award separately.

Fixed-price execution leaves Lisha Engineers carrying material escalation and site coordination exposure, while DMRC retains schedule and integration risk.

Who gains, who carries risk

The award redistributes benefits and risk across the corridor’s key parties:

- DMRC — as owner and decision-maker, captures the commissioning benefit.
- Lisha Engineers — gains a strategically relevant order but bears delivery and interface risk.
- Government of NCT of Delhi and Government of India — fund the corridor, with the alignment extending to Kundli in Haryana.

The industry signal

Phase 4 is now moving through depot-first sequencing, and Tier-2 civil contractors are winning enabling packages as DMRC parcels work to sustain competition and keep depot rates disciplined.