HYDERABAD, India, 21 January 2007 — The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet yesterday cleared the 87.6-billion-rupee Hyderabad Metro Rail Project and approved the formation of a special body to coordinate and monitor implementation of the project on fast track.
The project will be implemented in a public private partnership mode on Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) basis. The concession period is for 35 years (including five years for construction) and the mass rapid transit system with all its assets will be transferred to Andhra Pradesh government after the expiry of the concession period, Minister for Information and Public Relations Mohammed Ali Shabbir said.
Briefing newsmen after the Cabinet meeting, Shabbir said that the “three most congested routes of Hyderabad (with a total length of 66.39 km) will be covered in Phase-I, which will be completed in four years. These routes are Miyapur-L.B. Nagar (29.87 km, 27 stations), Jubilee Bus Station-Falaknuma (14.78 km, 16 stations) and Habsiguda-Shilparamam (21.74 km, 20 stations).”
All the stations will be connected with feeder bus services. Terminals and junction stations will be especially connected with a bus rapid transit system being developed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
Integration and interchange have been planned with rail terminals at Nampally (Hyderabad), Secunderabad, and Begumpet and with bus stations at Miyapur, Imlibun, Dilsukhnagar, Charminar and Jubilee bus station.
Multimodal transport system services will be linked at Balanagar, Begumpet, Khairatabad, Malakpet and Falaknuma.
All the three lines will be constructed as an elevated metro rail system, with two rail tracks (up and down lines) on a deck erected on pillars on road medians without obstructing road traffic. With an average cost of 1.32 billion rupees per kilometer, it will have 63 stations, at an average interval of one km each.
The Cabinet approved bid documents, containing all the technical specifications and performance criteria. The bid documents will be issued to the five consortia which won prequalification bid for the metro rail system, after approval from the federal government. The target for the selection of the BOT developer and commencement of construction work is set for June this year. The project will be implemented under a scheme in which 20 percent of the project cost will be funded by the federal government.
