HYDERABAD: The State government is committed to taking up the long-pending five km stretch of Hyderabad Metro Rail in Old City, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao has said. Replying to a question raised by CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Sridhar Babu on delay in metro works in the Assembly on Thursday, KTR said that 66 km of metro rail on three busy corridors has been completed and five km stretch in the Old City which was put on hold for various reasons would also be taken up soon.
The Hyderabad Metro Rail project was the fastest to be brought on stream — in six years — compared to other metros in the country which took almost nine years. By the end of this year, all the three corridors of the Metro rail will start commercial operations covering a total of 66 km, the minister said. The Hyderabad Metro Rail Project is guided by the Concession Agreement entered into by the then Congress-led government and L&T in September 2010, he said adding that the Concessionaire has to develop the Metro Rail system on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis, Right of Way provided by the State government with 66 stations and three depots on 269 acres land.
The estimated project cost then was Rs 14,132 crore of which the Central government has contributed 10 per cent share as Viability Gap Funding (VGF) and the State government has spent around Rs 3,000 crore for acquiring lands and removing encroachments, KTR said. The concession period is for 35 years, extendable by another 25 years subject to satisfactory fulfilment of certain conditions by the Concessionaire. The ownership of the project remains with the State government and the project will revert to the State at the end of the concession period, the minister said.
He also rejected the charge that a delay in deciding the alignment opposite the Assembly complex led to cost overruns. It is true that during the Statehood movement, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao demanded a change of alignment in order to protect the Telangana Martyr’s Memorial at Gun Park opposite the Assembly. “We ensured that the line was redesigned and moved to 20 metres away from its original alignment protecting the monument,” he said. The plan has been changed at Koti also without affecting local vendors and the Medical College.