No proposal for Visakhapatnam metro rail project, says Centre
VISAKHAPATNAM: There is no pending proposal from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for sanction of Visakhapatnam Metro Rail Project, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri said in response to a query raised by BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Recalling that the Centre had requested the State government to resubmit a proposal as per the revised Metro Rail Policy, 2017, Puri said no proposal was submitted in this regard. In 2018, the AP government had approached the Centre, seeking support for financial assistance from Korea Eximbank to build a light rail project under Public Private Partnership model, the minister explained.
Following this, the Union government submitted a proposal to the Korean bank for financing, he said and added that the bank, however, showed its inability to fund the project.
Accordingly, the AP government was advised about the refusal in April 2019 and asked to submit a proposal for the project. However, till date the State government has not submitted any proposal of financial assistance from other bilateral/multilateral agencies for the Vizag Light Metro Rail project, the minister said.