HYDERABAD: The state government announced plans to complete the second phase of Metro rail in Hyderabad within four years. This phase will cover 76.4 km across five corridors.
Following the state cabinet’s approval of the detailed project report (DPR) for these corridors, officials have begun the process of submitting the DPR to the Union government for approval.
The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 24,269 crore. Of this, the state government will bear Rs 7,313 crore (30%), while it expects the Centre to provide Rs 4,230 crore (18%). Additionally, Rs 11,693 crore (48%) will be sourced through loans from multilateral agencies such as JICA, ADB, NDB, backed by the Centre’s sovereign guarantee. The remaining Rs 1,033 crore (4%) will be raised through a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Initially, the state government planned to construct a metro line spanning a total of 116.4 km across six corridors. So far, the DPR for five corridors has been prepared and feasibility tests for the remaining corridor, from the Airport to Fourth City, are ongoing.
In the first phase, previous governments constructed a metro network covering 69 km across three corridors through a PPP model at a cost of Rs 22,000 crore. Currently, about 5 lakh passengers use the Metro daily.
Once the second phase is completed, the total length of the Metro line Hyderabad will extend to 115.4 km, with the second phase expected to accommodate an additional 8 lakh passengers daily.
Officials said that the previous government neglected the extension of the Metro in the city. They stated: “Initially, Hyderabad metro stood at second place, after Delhi. However, due to the expansion of Metro in other cities, Hyderabad has fallen to 9th place in terms of length. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad now have more extensive Metro networks. Therefore, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy intends to expand the Metro network in Hyderabad.”
