Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metro Rail fares are set to be hiked when the first stage commercial operations are launched in June.
The TS government gave indications to this effect in the Assembly on Sunday. Minister for municipal administration and urban development, K.T. Rama Rao, who briefed the House regarding the progress of the Metro Rail project, said the fares had been initially fixed in the price band of Rs 8 to Rs 19 in April 2011, these would now go up to Rs 13 to Rs 25 as per present costs. He said the project had been going on at a brisk pace since the TRS government assumed office in June 2014.
The minister added that the state was keen to extend services to the Old City by three more km from the existing 5.5 km and offered to hold an all-party meeting with public representatives to resolve the issues that were blocking the project. Mr Rama Rao said, “L&T will earn 50 per cent through passenger fares, 45 through lease of complexes and 5 per cent through advertisements on metro pillars and stations.”
KTR: Experts not for metro realignment
Giving an indication of hike in Metro Rail fares, minister K.T. Rama Rao said only four out of 200 metro projects worldwide were profitable.
“To make the project viable, the government offered 269 acre to L&T and allowed it to build commercial complexes.” He said L&T had been allowed to build 18.5 million sq. ft of commercial space of which 6 million sq. ft would be developed in the first phase. He dismissed criticism that the TRS government had blocked the Metro in the name of “realignment.”
“As a government with a democratic character, we had ordered a detailed study on all the realignment demands. After the experts advised us that realignment would not be feasible, we stuck to the original alignment. This process had in no way affected the works. The works gathered pace only after TRS came to power,” he said.
