The Hindu : Front Page : Metro project work to begin this year

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 29, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Metro project work to begin this year

Special Correspondent

Jaipal Reddy assures State team of MPs and MLAs of Central support

NEW DELHI: Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Friday expressed hope that the Metro project for Hyderabad would start within the current financial year. Assuring technical and financial support from the Centre, he said the project should be a reality on the lines of Delhi Metro.

The Minister said this after an all-party delegation of MPs and MLAs from Andhra Pradesh met him to discuss the Metro and other pending projects concerning Urban Development Ministry.

The State Government, he said, was in the process of selecting the consultants for the project, and that developing countries would witness rapid urbanisation during the second half of the current century. He said city planners would have to prepare for this growth amid projections that over 50 per cent of the population would reside in the urban areas.

M. Shashidhar Reddy said by 2020 the population of Hyderabad was expected to be equal to what Delhi had at present, and stressed on the need for having a mass transport system at the earliest.

Positive features

Delhi Metro chief E. Sreedharan, who also addressed the delegation, said compared to other cities, Hyderabad Metro had many positive features. The city had already undertaken widening of roads and the envisaged Metro route did not have any underground sections and the city was located in a quake-safe zone. Delays in decision-making would only push up the cost of the project, he reminded the legislators.

MLAs and MPs representing the twin cities unanimously demanded a Metro system on the lines of Delhi. The delegation on Thursday undertook a journey on Delhi Metro. Mr. Shabbir Ali said the State Government proposed to take up three-line, 60 km project in the first phase of the estimated Rs. 7,000-crore project. The three lines were Miyapur- Chaitanyapuri (26 km and 25 stations), Secunderabad- Falaknuma (13 km, 14 stations) and Tarnaka- Shilparamam (21 km and 20 stations).

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