74% Of Metro Completed, Trains In 3 Months: KTR

Telangana Information Technology, Panchayat Raj, and Municipal Administration & Urban Development Minister K Taraka Rama Rao on Sunday told the Assembly that 74% of the Hyderabad Metro Rail works had been completed.

Giving an answer to MIM member Akbaruddin Owaisi and others during the Question Hour in the Assembly, KTR said that though an agreement had been signed in 2010 on the HMR works, the then government had not taken decisions on many issues from 2010 to 2012. With this there was no progress in the HMR works till the TRS government took over, he added. The new TRS government then proposed changes to the HMR route alignment in front of the Assembly complex, the Martyrs memorial, Sultan Bazaar and some places in the Old City on January 20, 2015. While the changes to the route alignments were under discussion, the works at the other places were being undertaken at a fast pace.

"We have overcome the legal and other hurdles over the HMR route at the Jubilee Hills check post, Sarathi Studios at Ameerpet and the ISKCON temple on Sardar Patel Road in Secunderabad, and the works there are now in full swing," KTR said.

The minister pointed out that a 6-kilometre metro rail work in Benguluru took seven years, and a similar length of work in Chennai took eight years. "But we have created a record by completing 43km HMR work in less than two years, and the Hyderabad Metro Rail will begin its operations within two to three months as per schedule," he added.

KTR said that as per the accord the State government needed to invest Rs 3,000 crores, the Centre needed to spend Rs 1,450 crores, and L&T, which was executing the project, needed to spend Rs 12,774 crores. He said that only 50% of the project maintenance could be collected from the travellers in fares, which would be between Rs 13 and Rs 25. However, Owaisi said that L&T would earn over Rs 1.18 lakh crores in 35 years even if it charged moderately.

Earlier, Congress member Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that there was an inordinate delay in the HMR works due to the changes in the project alignment resulting in an additional burden of Rs 3,000 to 6,000 crores on the State exchequer.

KTR said that the Metro would be extended by another 83km in various directions - from Miyapur to Patancheru, Tarnaka to ECIL, Nagole to L B Nagar, L B Nagar to Hayathnagar and Rayadurgam to Shamshabad. There would also be an extension of the Uppal route up to Yadadri, he said.