VIJAYAWADA: After initial hiccups, the Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC) is all set to hire a consultant to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for executing the Light Metro Rail project (LMP) in Vijayawada. Five companies, two from France and one each from Germany, Canada and Italy are vying to prepare the DPR. Bids submitted by them will be opened Thursday by KfW, a government-owned German development bank which has come forward to fund the `4,800-crore LMP. One of the companies will be finalised in consultation with the AMRC.
These companies were shortlisted out of nine who evinced interest and a meeting was held with their representatives in Vijayawada on November 3. AMRC managing director NP Ramakrishna Reddy told TNIE that the bidders would have to evaluate various designs for LMP and submit options on the financial viability of the project. KfW, which was roped in to study the feasibility of having a metro rail in Vijayawada, had suggested in August this year that LMP would be a better bet given the city’s population and geographic dimensions and relatively low cost. While LMP costs `4,800 crore to `5,500 crore, a full-fledged metro rail requires close to `7,000 crore.
Following its recommendations and also a directive from the Centre to the State to resubmit proposals for the metro rail in line with the new metro rail policy, the State government had decided to opt for LMP. The companies that have submitted DPR bids are Egis Rail SA and Systra of France, CPCS Transcom of Canada, GRE Gauff Railway of Germany and Rina Cnsulting, Italy.
Reddy said AMRC representatives will visit Germany next month and finalise the consultant. The proposed LMP will have two corridors. One from Pandit Nehru Bus Station to Gannavaram airport and the other from the bus station to Kanuru. Priority will be given to the corridor that connects the city to the airport.The metro project has been delayed due to a variety of reasons. Earlier, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was roped in and it had invited bids but cancelled tenders submitted by L&T and Afcons citing high cost.
‘We got metro for Hyd’
Claiming credit for Hyderabad Metro Rail, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said that though the then NDA government limited metro rails to Ahmedabad and Bangalore, he had exerted pressure and succeeded in getting it for Hyderabad.