World’s best accord signed for Hyderabad metro rail project

HYDERABAD: A significant milestone in commencing work on the Rs. 12,132-crore Hyderabad metro rail project was reached when the Andhra Pradesh government and Maytas Metro Limited , special purpose vehicle constituted to implement it, signed a concession agreement here on Friday.

MML is a concessionaire company for implementation of the project on DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) basis. It consists of a consortium of Maytas Infra Limited, Navabharat Ventures Limited, Ital Thai Development Public Company and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited.

The agreement for building the metro system spanning a length of 71 km was signed by C. V. S. K. Sarma, chairman, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) and B. Teja Raju, managing director, MML, in the presence of Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The State government will have to subscribe an equity of Rs. 250 crore in the company.
Cheque presented

A cheque for Rs. 11 crore was presented to the Chief Minister by Mr. Raju on behalf of the MML as the first instalment of the Rs. 30,311-crore revenue promised to the government over a period of 35 years.

Dr. Reddy, who also launched a portal created for the project ( www.hyderabadmetrorail.in), quoted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to describe the agreement as the “world’s best” (in the public-private partnership mode). September 2012 has been fixed as the outer-limit for completing the project. The Chief Minister announced that road-clearing for the alignment of the metro system would begin next month and civil works would start from March.

N. V. S. Reddy, MD, HMRL, later said in the light of the offer made by the developers to implement the project without seeking any government grant, the sum of Rs. 2,300 crore sanctioned by the Centre would be used for allied work.

The Centre sanctioned the money under the original arrangement that the Union and State governments must contribute Rs. 4,800 crore towards the project cost.

He said the metro rail fare would range from Rs. 8 to Rs. 19 on an average.