The Hindu : Front Page : Big grant for Metro Rail project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 04, 2007
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Big grant for Metro Rail project

Special Correspondent

A satisfied Centre sanctions Rs.1,639 crore; work may begin in October

HYDERABAD: The Central Government has approved financial assistance of Rs. 1,639 crores for the Hyderabad Metro Rail project towards 20 per cent of the total project cost of Rs. 8,482 crores under the `viability gap funding' scheme.

The announcement came on Thursday.

The Centre was inclined to consider a bigger grant for the project of which 60 per cent will be raised by the private Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) developer and the rest by the State Government, said Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Managing Director-designate N.V.S. Reddy.

"We expect to start work in October-November and could begin services from Miyapur to Punjagutta (Line 1 from Miyapur to L.B.Nagar) by 2009," he explained.

"The Government of India is very happy with our preparatory work for what is the biggest private public partnership project being taken up.

Never before was a 66-km metro construction taken up at a single go anywhere in the world," he said.

The Centre's Empowered Institution chaired by Finance Additional Secretary Khullar and attended by Planning Commission Advisor Rajendra Haldia and Director of Ministry of Urban Development S.K. Lohia gave the nod at a meeting held in New Delhi earlier this week.

Principal Secretary of Municipal Administration & Urban Development S.P. Singh, Advisor T. Stanley Babu besides Mr. Reddy represented the State Government.

Bids to be invited

Tender documents will be given to the five pre-qualified international consortia next Monday (May 7) for inviting technical bids which will be evaluated on `pass-fail' basis on safety, performance and technical specifications with help of consultants:

Span-Semaly of France and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Financial bids will be invited from qualified bidders and one consortium seeking the least financial help from VGF will be given the entire project of elevated metro rail across the three routes.

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