KCR fixes deadline of August 2018 to complete Hyderabad Metro Rail project
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has fixed a deadline of August 2018 to complete the Hyderabad Metro Rail project. The Chief Minister reviewed the progress of Metro project with officials of state government and project developer L&T.
L&T Metro chairman S.N. Subramanian and MD Shivanand, Hydera-bad Metro Rail MD S.N.V.S. Reddy, Chief Minister’s principal secretary S. Narsing Rao and other senior officials participated in the review meeting held at the Chief Minister’s camp office on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister directed officials to complete Metro Corridor-I from Miyapur to LB Nagar by November 2017 giving indications that the Metro Rail commercial operations would be launched only by November 2017.
Mr Rao asked officials to expedite completion of Metro project since it would help in resolving the traffic woes in city to some extent.
The original deadline to complete project as per the agreement was July 2017, which has now been extended by about a year’s time.
The Chief Minister said that the state government would extend all its help for the speedy completion of the Metro Rail project.
Aquisition delays hit metro rail deadlines
Though the state government signed MoU with L&T for construction of Metro project in 2010, the execution of the project works started in 2012. The government and L&T had reached an agreement declaring July 5, 2012 as “Appointed Date” for Metro project and that the entire project should be completed within five years from this date, which is July 5, 2017.
But the project did not make critical progress as per plans due to delay in the acquisition of properties, handing over of lands and giving Right of Way to construct pillars on the middle of the roads due to road traffic and railway-crossing issues.
With the Chief Minister’s decision, the L&T now gets an official extension of the project completion deadline by one more year.
However, confusion still prevails whether the government would allow the launch of Metro commercial operations on completed routes between Nagole-Mettuguda (8-km) and Miyapur-SR Nagar (12 km) in early 2017.
Deadlines go for a toss
Stage-I from Nagole- Mettuguda: March 2015.
Stage-2 from Miyapur-SR Nagar: October 2015.
Project actual deadline: July 2017.
Project’s fresh deadline: August 2018.
Stage-I, Stage-II launches revised deadlines: Diwali 2016.
Stage-I, Stage-II new launch planned: March 2017.
Chief Minister’s new deadline for Corridor-I Nagole-Miyapur: November 2017.
