Chief Minister lays foundation stone Hyderabad Airport Express Metro

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today made it clear that the Phase II of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project will be taken up with or without the support of the Central Government.

''If the Central Government fails to cooperate and does not respond to our request for allocation of funds, the State Government on its own will take up the Metro Rail project Phase-II,'' Chief Minister said after laying the foundation stone for the Hyderabad Airport Express Metro on Friday morning.

This 31-kilometre-long stretch costing Rs 6,250 crore will connect the IT hub at Mindspace Junction and the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad. He also announced that the metro rail will be expanded around the Hyderabad Outer Ring Road in the future to strengthen the public transport system.

In connection with the expansion, the state has sought the Centre to accord in-principle approval for the Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-II project from BHEL to Lakdi-ka-pul (26 km) and extension of Nagole to L B Nagar (five km) stretches costing Rs 8,453 crore. The Telangana Government has urged Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Hardeep Singh Puri to allocate Rs 8,453 crore for metro rail works in the upcoming union budget for 2023-24.

The Chief Minister further mention how Hyderabad is a cosmopolitan city that embraces all classes, castes, religions, regions and races and is happy to lay the foundation stone for the metro, providing connectivity to the airport.

''In the past, Hyderabad did not progress much during the undivided Andhra Pradesh state. We suffered a lot before the formation of the Telangana state. There was a blackout and no proper power supply. The industrialists staged protest demonstrations at Indira Park saying that they will shift to other states. Hyderabad has now been converted into a power island.  Hyderabad city is integrated with the power sector. Power may go in New York, London, and Paris but not in Hyderabad.

Similarly, we have experienced drinking water problems. The drinking water projects from Krishna and Godavari were going slowly at that time. We have obtained clearances for all of them and arranged drinking water facilities and today there is no drinking water problem anywhere,'' the Chief Minister said.

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and GMR Group handed over a cheque of Rs 625 crore each (10 percent share of the project cost) to the chief minister on the occasion.