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The proposed Visakhapatnam metro rail project will cover 30 km in the first phase and the detailed project report will be prepared in a few months, according to E. Sridharan, principal adviser to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
Sridharan has also been appointed by the Andhra Pradesh Government as adviser to the three metro rail projects to be taken up in the State at Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati.
On Tuesday, he held a meeting with the officials of the Viskahapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA), the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), the AP Transport Department, railway officials and others to discuss the project. Earlier, Sreedharan had held a similar meeting with the officials in Vijayawada in September.
Later, he told reporters that "the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N Chandra Babu Naidu, is very keen on getting the two metro rail projects started at Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam and getting them completed in a span of three to four years. First, we have to prepare the DPRs for the two projects."
Project details
He said the proposed third metro rail project in the State would be taken up later after the completion of the projects. The idea was to take up Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam metro projects more or less simultaneously and finish them. The cost could also be reduced to an extent by 15 per cent or so, he added.
The Vizag metro would cover the railway station, central bus station and the business district. The Vijayawada metro would cover 27 km in the first phase. There was no need to link Guntur in the first phase.
He said special purpose vehicles would have to floated for both the metro rail projects. On the question of the project cost and which agency would take up the projects, he said these issues would have to decided later.
Sreedharan said in a lighter vein that though he was a former student of Andhra University he had not picked up enough Telugu to converse comfortably in the language. He later visited the railway station, bus station and other places in the city along with a team of experts and officials.
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