Centre seeks information on Phase-II of Metro, execution may get delayed

Hyderabad: The second phase of the Metro Rail in the city is likely to get delayed as the Centre has told the State government that the approval of such proposals depends upon feasibility of the project and availability of the resources.

An RTI was filed seeking the details of the letter written by the Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao and the present situation of the proposal at the Ministry of Urban Development. The Centre has told the State government that the proposal of phase-II received from the State government was presently under appraisal in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Rama Rao had written a letter to the Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri requesting a speedy approval of second phase of Metro Rail with Rs 8,453 Crore (A metro line originating at BHEL and going up to Lakdikapul for a length of 26 km and having 23 stations and further as part of phase-II, extension of Corridor 3 of phase-1 from Nagole to LB Nagar for a length of 5 km having four stations.)

The Ministry replied stating that Metro projects were costly and sought information on 14 aspects so that the MTRS wing of the Ministry could prepare DPR. The issues raised by the Ministry include- Telangana government sent DPR in 2022 and decided the base cost prices pertaining to the year 2018, which are not the benchmark prices. Therefore, DPR needs to be updated at current price level and cost components may be framed in accordance with the Ministry's Bench-marking standards.

The Ministry has sought the status of formation of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The Ministry said contingency of 3 per cent has been calculated on general charges also, which was not in order. Contingency of 3 per cent is to be calculated on basic price, the Minimum Local Content (MLC) issued by MOHUA on October 14, 2020 was also required to be taken into account for duty/tax calculations. The Centre has also sought Cost Escalation (in excel sheet), justification for selecting the present alignment etc.

The Centre has also asked the State government to furnish the status of constitution of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA), as a statutory body, the details of items covered under public private partnership along with cost should also be furnished, the letter by ministry said. With regard to the Phase-II corridor from Airport Express Metro between Raidurg and Shamshabad Airport (31km) the approval by the ministry would be communicated separately.