Metro corridors to give connectivity to airport from all corners of Hyderabad

Even as the Hyderabad Metro Rail project’s phase I is heading towards completion by March next year leaving the Old City stretch, the Telangana government is already moving ahead with the plans of Phase II of the rail project. 

While the exact length of Phase II is yet to be finalised, officials have identified the corridors that would be taken up under the project and the focus would be on giving connectivity to the airport from all corners of the city.

The top priority would be towards airport connectivity from Raidurg ((Biodiversity Park) to Shamshabad and Falaknuma to airport, according to chief secretary Shailendra Kumar who also shared that unlike the Phase I of the Metro, Phase II  will be taken up solely by the state government.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is entrusted to give a detailed project report (DPR) for Phase II. Meanwhile, the municipal administration department has sought a preliminary project report (PPR) to begin the process of mobilizing funds for Phase II and the PPR has been submitted to the state government.

As per the report by the DMRC, the PPR suggested a 30 km corridor from the Biodiversity Park to Shamshabad, 26 km from BHEL to Lakdikapul and five kms stretch from Nagole to LB Nagar. Also, with the alignment issues delaying the MGBS to Falaknuma stretch, the time period of one year is given for it to be completed once the works begin while the connectivity from Falaknuma to Shamshabad will be taken up in the later stages of Phase II.

So far, the state government has initiated talks with some financial institutions for funds including Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) keeping in view of the tentative cost of Phase II would be around Rs 10,000 crore. 60 percent of the funds are said to be mobilized from the funding agencies.

On the other hand, as the state government is working on Phase II to decongest vehicular traffic in the entire area, the stretch connecting the IT corridor from Ameerpet to Hi-Tec City would be ready by October this year and the stretch between JBS to MGBS would be functional by March 2019.