L&T Metro Rail Ltd is holding parleys with at least 12 rolling stock suppliers (rakes) for the Rs 16,375-crore Hyderabad Metro project, and expects to finalise the supplier by September this year.

The Chief Executive and Managing Director of L&T Metro Rail Ltd, Mr V.B.Gadgil, said that the negotiations are underway with companies such as Bombardier, which has a manufacturing base in India at Gujarat, Alstom and Siemens.

“We expect the value of the deal to be about Rs 2,000 crore,” he said. The supplier may be encouraged to set up a local unit.

Speaking to visiting journalists at L&T's training centre at Jadcherla, about 90 km from Hyderabad, Mr Gadgil said that the designs are being finalised and work is set to take off shortly.

The company had recently announced it had achieved financial closure for the Rs 16,375-crore project.

Mr N.V.S. Reddy, Managing Director of Metro Rail, said that they would engage about 50,000 people during the construction phase of the project. This includes 2,500 highly skilled people and about 2,500 engineers.

According to estimates, the project would require about 3 lakh tonnes of cement and 2.8 lakh tonnes of steel.

Mr Reddy said “the project is poised to be launched during May. Most of the pending court cases have been resolved and we do not see any more hurdles in going ahead with the mega project.”

The enhanced compensation of Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 per square yard in commercial areas and Government's support in relocating businesses would ensure that there are no problems in property acquisitions, Mr Reddy explained.

Referring to three land parcels where metro hubs would come up, Mr Reddy said “they have also been sorted out. And a couple of pending cases will also be resolved.”

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