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An artist’s design of the proposed Hyderabad metro project…The metro rail would enhance the sky-scape of the Andhra Pradesh capital.

K. V. Kurmanath

When the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet announced the award of the Rs 12,132-crore Hyderabad Metro Rail Project to Nava Bharat Ventures-Maytas consortium, it raised many an eyebrow in the country. It is the payback offer of Rs 30,311 crore by the consortium to the State Government during the concession period of 35 years that attracted the attention of many.

The project envisages building a network of 71.16 km of elevated rail line, dotted with 66 stations, connecting the important routes to ease the traffic congestion.

The system is expected to carry 17 lakh passengers by 2012 and 25 lakh by 2022. It is estimated that the project would be viable once it reaches the 16-lakh passenger mark.

Ever since the Union Government gave the nod for the project on a design-build-finance-operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis, the Hyderabad Metro both raised doubts and attracted interest. People such as as Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, Convener of the Lok Satta Party, opposed the project on the plea that it is wasteful public expenditure.

Environmental activists and heritage lovers too opposed it, saying that it would spoil the sky-scape of the historic city. The unique model developed by HMR, with the help of Delhi Metro, has addressed both the concerns.

“We are not going to spend a rupee on building the project. We have innovated a public-private model, where the private party would spend the entire amount of Rs 12,000 crore. What’s more, we will be getting huge returns on certain milestones,” Mr N. V. S. Reddy, Managing Director of HMR, said.

The consortium would give Rs 11 crore on signing the agreement, Rs 50 crore on achieving financial closure (which should happen within six months), Rs 200 crore in the fourth year, Rs 100 crore a year from the seventh to ninth years and Rs 1,750 crore a year from the 18th year to 34th year.

This is what they call ‘negative granting’ in infrastructure parlance. While the Reliance Infra consortium and the Essar consortium sought a grant of Rs 2,811 crore and Rs 3,100 crore respectively from the Government, Nava Bharat-Maytas and Magna-Allmore consortia sought no financial support from the Government. On the other hand, they offered to pay back. The latter consortium offered to pay Rs 250 crore (which would have taken care of State Government’s equity contribution of 11 per cent).

The State Government would have a Golden Share, that gives a notional share of 26 per cent, to block moves that might go against the interests of the public.

Mr N. V. S. Reddy, a close associate of Mr E. Sreedharan, whose Delhi Metro become a showpiece of the nation, said a lot of detail went into the project. “We spoke to the bidders at length to understand the problems the developers generally face in building mass rapid transport systems,” he said.

“We held almost a year of discussions with all the participants (the GVK consortium, however, had opted out of the bidding, believing that it is not a viable proposition). They attended the brainstorming sessions along with their lawyers. We also involved the prospective lenders because they should understand that it is a bankable project,” he pointed out.

“We asked them to come out with their technical proposals. Each of them did their own study. We did all this to prepare a bid document that should be acceptable to them. They should know what they are bidding for,” he said.

The HMR, then, prepared a manual of specifications. “Perhaps, for the first time in the world we have prepared a document that is technologically-neutral. We have given space for design innovation by laying emphasis on output-oriented performance,” he said. To explain this, he gave an example. “We gave them a specification of temperatures (say, 15-50 degrees) in the twin cities. They need to build an air-conditioned system to suit that requirement,” he said.

The metro rail would enhance the sky-scape of the Andhra Pradesh capital. “For one, the trains will not have overhead power supply. The engines will take power from a third rail on the track,” he said.

It is not going to damage the heritage structures along the three routes. The route would be 500 metres away from any heritage structure along the route. Besides, stations in proximity to historic monuments, such as Charminar and Salarjung Museum, would reflect their features.

The project hinges on a unique revenue model as it allows for the exploitation of vertical space for commercial activity. This, actually, is the most important component for the developer. “They could develop 18.5 million sq ft of space (12.5 m sq ft at depots and 6 m sq ft near stations. No commercial activity is allowed at the station per se). They cannot sell the land but can only give it on lease (after opening of the section). We have acquired 269 acres of land for the purpose,” Mr Reddy said.

Fares would be in the range of Rs 8-Rs 19. The Automatic Train Control and Automatic Train Protection systems would ensure no collision despite the very busy train schedules.

More Stories on : Railways | Urban Development | Andhra Pradesh

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