VIJAYAWADA: A decision over announcement of suitable mode of public transport in Vijayawada city will be taken within 25 days. Despite coming to a decision in principle to opt for the Light Metro Rail (LMR), the State government has appointed a German-based consultancy to submit a report on viable public transport mode for the city. The consultancy is expected to submit its report within a fortnight.
After deciding to give up the metro rail project due to prohibitive cost, the State government, sent a delegation led by Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana to China and Malaysia recently to study the alternative public transport mode for the city.
The delegation met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Monday and explained to him about the alternative transport systems it studied during their visit to China and Malaysia.
Speaking to mediapersons, Municipal Administration Minister Narayana said during their visit to China and Malaysia they studied several transportation systems such as electric, mono, magnetic, light metro and heavy metro rails. Though most of the nations are using LMR, the State government is yet to take a final decision in this regard.
According to the minister, there are 418 LMRs across the world and 287 of them are in Europe alone. In India also, it is being operated in Gurgaon.
However, at least 40,000 passengers should travel in LMR per hour while it is 80,000 passengers per hour for Heavy Metro Rail to run the transportation systems profitably. But the number of passengers in Vijayawada at present is 6,400 only. The investment can be reduced by 15 per cent for LMR compared to HMR. The maintenance cost of LMR is also low, he said.