Thaindian News

Hyderabad, July 15 (IANS) Work on the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project will begin in January next year, union Minister for Urban Development S. Jaipal Reddy said here Thursday.
He told reporters that the foundation stone for the Rs.12,132 crore project would be laid in January and it is expected to be completed in five years.

Reddy said the central government would provide Rs.1,458 crore under the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for the project. The developer will be asked to achieve financial closure for the project by Dec 10.

Leading construction group Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Wednesday bagged the project. However, the state government is yet to make a formal announcement in this regard.

L&T emerged as the lowest bidder seeking Rs.1,458 crore, the least from the government in terms of VGF. The central government had agreed to give Rs.2,363 under VGF.

A three-member committee picked L&T out of six companies that bid for the mega project, which was initially awarded to Maytas Infra in 2008.

The authorities called for fresh global bids last year after scrapping the deal with Maytas, a sister concern of scam-hit Satyam Computer Services, as it failed to achieve financial closure.

The 71.6-km long elevated metro rail project will be taken up in public private partnership on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis.

The all-AC Metro Rail will run on three high traffic-density corridors and will have a total 66 railway stations. The three routes are - Miyapur to LB Nagar (29.87 km), Jubliee Bus Station to Falaknuma (14.78 km) Nagole to Shilparamam (26.51 km).