Surya DesarajuAmaravati, Jan 14 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh chief ministerN Chandrababu Naidu during his meeting with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in New Delhi two days ago made a fresh plea forbuilding metro rail systems in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.
He told the Prime Minister that "a specific road mapand an action plan has to be drawn and implemented" withoutfurther loss of time.
On September 4, 2015, Naidu had set August 2018 as thedeadline for completion of the first phase of the Vijayawadametro and December 2018 for Visakhapatnam metro.
However, neither of the projects moved an inch sincethen and, in fact, the AP government had even dumped the planto build a metro network at Vijayawada.
Ironically, indecisiveness on part of the stategovernment had been the main roadblock at least in the case ofthe Vijayawada metro, authoritative sources pointed out,adding that it could not get past the conceptual stage evenafter more than two and a half years.
The state government first wanted to go for a (medium)metro rail and got a detailed project report (DPR) prepared bythe Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in 2015.
In July 2015, after scrutinizing the DPR, the UnionMinistry of Urban Development found Vijayawada "ineligible"for a metro for a variety of reasons, including a meagrefinancial Internal Rate of Return of just 3. 47 per centagainst the stipulated 8 per cent and above.
But the Chandrababu government got it "sanctioned"citing a "political commitment" (made during the state'sbifurcation)from the Urban Development ministry which was atthe time led by M Venkaiah Naidu.
The Centre eventually "rejected" the Vijayawada Metroproposal in March 2017 saying it was "not financially viable".
'Metro ManÂ’ E Sreedharan also quit as principaladvisor to AP government in July 2017, compounding the chaos.
In the meantime, the state government toyed with theidea of taking up a light rail system or an elevated bus rapidtransit system for Vijayawada before finally settling for alight rail system.
"The light rail technology (LRT) is more flexible andprofitable than the metro system. The LRT system is one of themost avant-garde technologies operating in Germany and Francewhile the metro train system is more rigid," noted a seniorofficial of the Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation, a specialpurpose vehicle floated by the state government.
"We are now getting a DPR prepared for the LRT. Aconsortium led by French firm Systra has been engaged for thiswhile KfW of Germany is funding it. Once the DPR is ready, wewill submit it to the Centre for approval," AMRC ManagingDirector N P Ramakrishna Reddy told PTI.
The case of Visakhapatnam Metro is more or lesssimilar with a lot of time lost on deciding the corridors onwhich it has to be built and how the project should be takenup.
It was only late last year that the state governmentfinally decided on the public-private partnership (PPP) routefor the Rs 8,800 crore, 42-km project.
"This is at an advanced stage and we have invited bidsfor expression of interest and Korean, Malaysian and Indiancompanies have evinced interest in Visakhapatnam Metro. Filingof bids will close on February 27 and then request forproposal will be invited from the companies,” the AMRC MDsaid.
He informed that of the total project cost, theprivate developer would have to spend Rs 4200 crore onnon-civil works while the state government would invest thebalance on civil works.
"We are approaching Korean and other foreign agenciesfor required funds (state share)," Ramakrishna Reddy added.
If things move as planned, the Visakhapatnam Metrocould hopefully be chugging in four years. PTI DBV BNMBAS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.