Old City will have Metro Rail coverage: NVS Reddy

Hyderabad, May 9 (INN): Hyderabad Metro Rail Managing Director NVS Reddy on Saturday announced that the Metro Rails works in the Old City would begin soon.

Participating in the Meet The Press programme organised by Hyderabad Union of Journalist here, Reddy said the Metro would cover the Old City areas. He said that the HMRL was in receipt of suggestions made by the public representatives and a decision would be taken on them soon. He said there is a proposal to start a Metro corridor between Falaknuma and Shamshabad International Airport. However, he admitted that the works pertaining to Old City of Hyderabad might get delayed.

Reddy claimed that the Metro rail works were going on at a very fast pace and the project is expected to be completed by June 2017. He described the HMRL as one of the best project in the world in terms of use of technology. Even before the completion, the HMRL has been accorded several awards. He informed that of nearly 200 Metro Rail services in the world, only four are profitable. He claimed that HMR project would be profitable in the first few months after its launch.

The HMR MD said that total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 14,132 crore. Of this, nearly Rs 2,000 crore are being contributed by the Telangana Government. The project is being constructed on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode with L&T holding 90% of its share. He said that the government has provided 269 acres of land for establishment of three depots and 20 stations.

Reddy hoped that after the launch of Metro Rail, Hyderabad would get investments of nearly Rs 50,000 crore in different sectors which would also lead to creation of new jobs.