The ₹14,132-crore Hyderabad metro rail, seen as an engineering marvel and transformational project for Hyderabad, Secunderabad and the IT hub of Cyberabad, will be open to the public on November 29.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a 30-km-long stretch, part of the 72-km long elevated metro rail project.

Being developed by the construction major L&T, the concessionaire, it has faced a number of hurdles and managed to get over them.

The project, which was expected to be ready by July 2017, five years from commencement, has been delayed by about 12-18 months, and the cost of the project is also likely to go up by about ₹3,500 crore to ₹4,500 crore, a problem issue. While the government and L&T are in discussions, there is no official word on the cost escalation.

Along with over ₹2,000 crore investment made by the State for securing the Right of Way, land acquisition and compensation to those who have parted with their properties, the project cost is likely to cross ₹20,000 crore when fully ready.

Significantly, the metro project will be a combination of one of the most modern metros, but pack a lot of commercial reality facilitating transit-oriented development. It would include commercial property of 18.5 million sq ft. About half of the revenue would be from ticket sales and the rest from commercial exploitation.

Challenges on the way

Considered to be one of the biggest PPP projects, it had fair share of challenges, right from securing right of way, delay in clearances from the Railways for Rail Over Bridges, and the tough transition during the Telangana agitation phase.

At one point, during 2015-16, the project progress was threatened with the new government seeking change in alignment at couple of locations of the three corridor project. As on date, a stretch of about 6 km, which heads into the dense Old City corridor connecting up to Falaknuma is still in the limbo.

While L&T, which had completed couple of stretches of 12 and 8 km in the metro corridors, could have actually operated them in 2016 itself, it had to wait to commission the project now. The government was keen that a longer completed stretch, connecting busy locations, would be beneficial for the commuters. While the project is progressing, and works are under way on the other stretches, the last mile connectivity, which plays a crucial role in the success of any metro, needs to be sorted out by the State.

A truly multi-modal transport is critical for the success of metro even if the entire length of 72 km is completed.

Background

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, then headed by Metro man E Sreedharan, prepared a report for the metro project along with various routes.

The first set of tenders were called for and the Maytas Infra-led consortium was awarded the contract in 2008, during the YS Rajasekhara Reddy regime in the unified Andhra Pradesh. It had declined Viability Gap Funding.

However, this was later cancelled and re-tendered, where L&T was awarded as it sought least amount as VGF. Of the total cost of ₹14,132 crore, the Centre sanctioned ₹1,458 crore as one-time capital grant with the remaining contribution of ₹12,674 crore from L&T.

KT Rama Rao, Telangana IT and Industries Minister, says “This project reflects both engineering and financial innovation, and the new State will work on its early completion and initiate studies for next expanded phase.”

Smart cards which can pack 16 different services and include multi-modal transport will make it easy for consumers.

NVS Reddy, Managing Director of HMRL, describes the metro as an urban rejuvenation project that would transform Hyderabad as a global city.

VG Gadgil, a veteran of over 40 years with L&T, worked on the project from the day one for over 3.5 years before handing over the baton to Shivanand Nimbargi, MD & CEO of L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd.

The project is sought to be made financially viable by taking up transit-oriented development along the three corridors of 29 km, 15 km and 39 km respectively and at terminal points.

L&T contracted some of the best-known global players and awarded contracts to Hyundai Rotem of South Korea for coaches, Thales for signalling, Samsung, Keolis among others.

Litigations

The metro had to face a number of court cases for property and land acquisition and in some cases traders who were getting displaced voiced their concerns. Efforts are on to develop some commercial spaces which would help relocate them.

With the commissioning of 30 km, the real test would be to ensure people shift to use this mode in place of personal vehicles.

While the 66-km stretch is likely to be ready in second half of 2019, minus the Old city section, the government is also considering extending the metro lines in the second phase of the project. Funding would be achallenge.

Can this Metro project transform Hyderabad?

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