| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| irse |
Posted - 06/12/2008 : 03:16:02
http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/12/stories/2008061259970400.htm
HYDERABAD: The State government will promulgate an ordinance shortly
to arm itself with powers to execute, operate and maintain the metro
rail project in the twin cities all by itself, without any control
from the railways.
The draft AP Municipal Tramways Ordinance, prepared on the lines of
the ones adopted in West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra and New
Delhi, will empower the government to implement tramway systems/metro
rail projects with ââŹĹdedicated right of wayââŹÂ within the municipal
areas other than those covered by Indian Railways.
The proposed ordinance which was approved by the Cabinet at its
meeting here on Wednesday, also provides for appointment of a ââŹĹsafety
commissionerââŹÂ to certify the mass transit projects before permitting
them for public use. Information Minister A. Ramanarayan Reddy later
told reporters that the ordinance became necessary as otherwise, the
project would suffer procedural delays if handed over to the railways.
He said the Rs. 9,696-crore project for which the Centre had already
sanctioned Rs. 2,000 crore towards ââŹĹgap fundingââŹÂ and ââŹĹagreedââŹÂ to
sanction another 10 per cent of the outlay, would be implemented
through Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited. The State would meet 10 per
cent of the cost. N. V. S. Reddy, MD, HMRL, said the financial bids
for the project were due by July 4.
irse |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| S.ravi |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 08:50:50
Rosaiah speeding up Metro Rail
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Rosaiah+speeding+up+Metro+Rail&artid=lWlkeo5O%7CSM=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=
02 Mar 2010 04:13:00 AM ISTLast Updated :
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Rosaiah today asked the minister and officials of the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) to speed up the process of finalisation of awarding the works for Hyderabad Metro Rail project with a firm deadline.
He directed the officials of the Metro Rail Project to monitor every stage of the project and see that the contractors strictly adhere to the milestone and said it was one of the most prestigious projects of the State Government and was very particular to complete it right on schedule.
The officials told the chief minister that financial bids for the project were due in April and the new concessionaire was expected to be in place by May this year. The ground works for the project will be launched in November and most of
the sections will be thrown open to public travel in about four years while the
total project will be completed in five years.
Reviewing the progress of the project with MAUD Minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy and officials, the chief minister said that Hyderabad was expanding fast and traffic congestion continued to be one of the major problems.
In view of this, former chief minister YS Rajasekahara Reddy had conceived the HMR project.
The chief minister directed the officials that keeping in mind Maytas
consortiumâs failure to achieve financial closure, they should further tighten the pre-qualification criteria, apart from increasing the bid security from Rs 60 crore to Rs 240 crore and performance security from Rs 240 crore to Rs 360 crore. Being implemented in publicprivate partnership (PPP) at an estimated cost of Rs 12,132 crore, a maximum of 40 percent of the project cost will be given as
viability gap funding by the Central and State Governments.
The selection criterion in the financial bids is the lowest grant sought by the successful bidder and the Union Government has already sanctioned Rs 2,363 crore as its share of gap funding for the project.
The Metro Rail will cover three highdensity traffic corridors of the city,spanning over 71 km, providing a reliable, efficient and world-class public transport system together with the Shamshabad international airport and the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
Eight consortia applied for pre-qualification and on the basis of independent evaluation reports of their technical and financial credentials by reputed technical, legal and financial consultants, the State Government pre-qualified all of them a few days ago to participate in financial bids.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 08:48:15
Hyderabad announces Metro Rail project
http://www.topnews.in/hyderabad-announces-metro-rail-project-2255153
03/02/2010 - 14:16
Following the Delhi footsteps, Hyderabad also announced its project of metro rail after DMRC's huge success. The project is set to start this year and will be responsible for creating a plethora of jobs for the state except the improved transport system of the state.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah said that the number of jobs would be around 50,000 is set to be worth around 12,132-crore rupees. It would be providing employment to about 5000 engineers and around 45,000 skilled and
unskilled workers.
The chief minister also believed that Hyderabad could now be a hub of ancillary
industries as there will be huge requirements of cement concrete etc.
About 26 lakh tones of cement would be required, steel required would be around
2 lakh tones and concrete would be around 58 lakh cubic metres. Developmental
activities around Telengana would now increase, he added.
The following companies are expected to participate in the bid: Transstroy-OJSC Transstroy (Russia)-CR18G (China)-BEML consortium; Reliance Infra-Reliance Infocomm consortium (ADAG); Lanco Infra-OHL Concesiones(Spain) consortium; Essar-Leighton (Australia)-Gayatri-VNR consortium; GMR Infra; GVK-Samsung (South Korea) consortium; Soma-Strabag AG (Austria) consortium and Larsen & Toubro.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 03/01/2010 : 18:36:23
Hyderabad Metrorail back on track
http://news.webindia123.com/news/ar_showdetails.asp?id=1003010467&cat=&n_date=20100301
Hyderbad | Monday, Mar 1 2010
The prestigious Rs 12,132 crore Metro-Rail project, which derailed following the failure of Satyam's sister concern Maytas infra to achieve financial closure, is back on track and the new concessionaire will be in place in May 2010.
''The ground works for the project will be launched in November and most of the sections will be thrown open for public travel in four years, while the entire project will be completed in five years,''according to a release from the Chief Minister's office. The Chief Minister, at a high-level review meeting here today, directed the officials to take into account earlier experience of Maytas
ConsortiumââŹâ˘s failure to achieve financial closure and further tighten the pre-qualification criteria,apart from increasing the bid security from Rs 60 crore (0.5 per cent of the project cost) to Rs 240 crore (two per cent), and performance security from Rs 240 crore ( two per cent) to Rs 360 crore (three per cent). He wanted the officials of the Metro Rail Project to closely monitor every stage of the project and ensure the contractors strictly adhered to the
milestones.
He said the reason why Former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekahara Reddy conceived the project was easing the traffic problems in the city.
|
| S.ravi |
Posted - 03/01/2010 : 18:27:38
Hyderabad Metro Rail to create 50,000 jobs
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Hyderabad-Metro-Rail-to-create-50000-jobs/articleshow/5631150.cms
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Metro Rail is expected to trigger mammoth economic activity in and around the city and provide employment to about 50,000 people, Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah said on Monday.
The chief minister, who reviewed the Rs 12,132-crore project at a meeting here, said it would provide employment for about 5,000 engineers and about 45,000 skilled and unskilled workers.
He also hoped that with a requirement of about 26 lakh tonnes of cement, two lakh tonnes of steel and 58 lakh cubic metres of concrete, the project will help set up many ancillary industries and machinery manufacturing and servicing units around Hyderabad. This would give fillip to developmental activities in various parts of Telangana, he added.
The Telangana region, which comprises 10 districts including Hyderabad, is currently witnessing movement for separate statehood.
Noting that Hyderabad Metro Rail project is back on track, he asked the officials to speed up the process to finalise works with a firm deadline.
All eight companies/consortia that filed pre-qualification bids have qualified to participate in financial bids which will be finalised in April.
The new concessionaire is expected to be in place by May.
The ground work for the project will be launched in November and most of the sections will be thrown open for public travel in four years, while the whole project is expected to be completed in five years.
The companies/consortia qualified to participate in financial bids are: Transstroy-OJSC Transstroy (Russia)-CR18G (China)-BEML consortium; Reliance Infra-Reliance Infocomm consortium (ADAG); Lanco Infra-OHL Concesiones (Spain) consortium; Essar-Leighton (Australia)-Gayatri-VNR consortium; GMR Infra; GVK-Samsung (South Korea) consortium; Soma-Strabag AG (Austria) consortium and Larsen & Toubro.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 01/28/2010 : 18:26:58
Metro rail: clarifications sought from bidders
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/29/stories/2010012958760300.htm
HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Limited has sought some more clarification from the eight companies/consortia which applied for pre-qualification for the metro rail project and asked them to submit the clarifications by February 3. The pre-qualification exercise will be completed in a few days after examining the clarifications sought, a press release by the HMR said on Thursday. The clarifications pertain to exact period and percentage of equity share holding in the projects indicated for technical experience; certification by statutory auditors regarding calculation of net worth; authority for issuing power of attorney in favour of signatories and the lead members; the net worth and technical experience of associate companies.The voluminous documents submitted by the eight companies/consortia were evaluated with the help of independent consultants and clarifications sought. |
| S.ravi |
Posted - 01/16/2010 : 20:52:05
8 bids received for metro rail project
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/17/stories/2010011758630100.htm
Municipal Administration Minister happy with overwhelming response
Fortress Limited has been appointed as the consulting agency to process the bids
Bids were called for after scrapping agreements with Maytas Infra-led consortium
HYDERABAD: A major milestone has been reached in respect of the long-delayed metro rail project of Hyderabad, with the government receiving pre-qualification bids from eight consortia to implement it through DBFOT mode (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) in spite of the present economic slowdown.
Reliance (Anil Ambani) group, GMR, L&T, LancoOHL (Spain), Essar Leighton (Australia)-Gayatri-VNR, GVK-Samsung (South Korea), TransstroyOJSC (Russia)-CR 18 (China)-BHML and Soma-Strabag (Austria).
Financial quotations
Expressing happiness at the overwhelming response, Municipal Administration Minister A. Ramnarayan Reddy said at a press conference here on Saturday that the pre-qualification bids would be shortlisted by January 28 and relevant documents issued to the selected consortia to enable them to submit financial quotations within the purview of the project cost before April 9, 2010.
New concessionaire
He announced that the name of the new concessionaire would be finalised by April-end and works grounded by October 2010 with the aim of completing the project by 2014.
N.V.S. Reddy, MD, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, the agency that would have the documents processed on behalf of the government, said the project cost, however, was pegged at Rs. 12,132 crore in view of the fall in prices of cement and steel.
The Minister said Fortress Limited has been appointed as the consulting agency to process the bids, whereas the technical, financial and legal aspects would be examined by Barsyl, Deloitte, and Luthra & Luthra respectively.
In line with the guidelines laid down by the Chaturvedi Committee appointed by the Centre for such massive infrastructure projects, prior execution of projects worth Rs. 18,000 crore in the last 10 years (one and a half times the project cost), and owning a net worth of Rs. 3,000 crore were prescribed as eligibilities to apply for the pre-qualification bids.
The government had to call for fresh bids after scrapping the agreements signed with the previous consortia led by Maytas Infra-led consortium following its failure to achieve financial closure within the time-limit set.
The sum of Rs. 71 crore deposited by the Maytas consortium as security had been forfeited and the High Court did not stay the forfeiture.
Total length
As earlier, the metro rail will have a total length of 71.16 km covering three high traffic density corridors of the city, with 66 stations.
Also, the Centre and State government would offer Rs. 4,853 crore as viability gap funding (VGF) to the selected bidder. The Centre had sanctioned Rs. 2,363 crore as its share towards the VGF. |
| S.ravi |
Posted - 01/10/2010 : 18:20:24
HYB : Metro rail bids may get delayed
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Metro-rail-bids-may-get-delayed-/articleshow/5422054.cms
8 January 2010, 03:36am IST
HYDERABAD: Bids for the jinxed Hyderabad Metro Rail project may be delayed yet again with the authorities mulling extension of the last date for submission of Request for Qualification (RFQ) from prospective developers.
In fact, after several extensions, the last date for the submission of RFQ was extended to January 16 a few weeks ago. Now, thanks to the current political turmoil in the state, it is likely to be extended again.
After the RFQs were invited by the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) on July 21, 2009 eight groups have purchased RFQ documents. They include L&T (Mumbai), Reliance Infra, DB Group (Mumbai), VNR Infrastructure (Hyderabad), India Bulls Group (Mumbai), Lanco Infratech (Gurgaon), Essar Group (Mumbai) and GVK Group (Hyderabad).
HMR believes that the political situation will improve in a month and
prospective developers will come forward to take up the Rs 12,132-crore project.
If the HMR goes ahead with the current bids schedule, there is a chance that some developers may rethink in filing their bids owing to the current turmoil in the state and in Hyderabad particular.
âThe metro rail project is being taken up under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) where the private developer will bear the expenditure for the project and recover the amount from real estate development along the metro routes, depots and through commercial exploitation. In the prevailing situation, most bidders
may not evince interest,â an official of MA&UD said.
There is also an opinion among the officials that if the response from the bidders is poor, the government may be forced to cancel the bids and then it will opt for taking up the project on its own on the lines of the Bangalore Metro project where the state government has taken up the project with financial assistance from Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
âThere is a proposal to extend the last date for submission of bids for the Metro Rail project. But a final decision will be taken after January 10 by the government,â a senior official of MAUD said.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 12/09/2009 : 08:13:03
MMTS phase-II on speed track
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/09/stories/2009120958840300.htm
At your service: SCR General Manager M.S. Jayanth interacting with MMTS
commuters on Tuesday.
HYDERABAD: Here is some good news for MMTS travellers. The South Central Railway General Manager, M.S. Jayanth, said efforts were on to speed up the phase II works, besides introducing GPRS facility in MMTS trains and Automatic Ticket dispensing counters at all MMTS stations shortly.
Interacting with commuters on board a MMTS train from Secunderabad railway station to Hi-Tec City on Tuesday, he said phase II works would be taken up in three stages, including land acquisition, upgrading rolling stock and improving passenger amenities at stations.
The first phase of the project too would be augmented with the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) which responded positively to supply the pending coaches by the first quarter of next year (April) so that the coaches to each train can be increased from six to nine.
The GPRS facility would reduce waiting time for passengers as all details including arrival of a train and its location on a particular route would be available in the trains and stations. A trial run of the GPRS facility at Hi-Tec City and Begumpet would be taken up by this month-end.
For greater passenger convenience, automatic ticket dispensing counters will be opened at all stations soon while smart cards too are on the anvil.
With a minimum security deposit, passengers can swipe the cards and take tickets from these machines, said Mr. Jayanth.
Time table released
Vijayaraghavan, a representative of MMTS Travellers Group, complained that exorbitant parking charges were being collected at the stations while some stations lacked adequate parking facilities. Others brought to his notice, the nuisance created by miscreants at Hafeezpet, Borabanda and Fatehnagar stations besides inadequate public toilets.
The SCR General Manager assured to look into the matters. He also released the pocket size MMTS trains time table priced at Rs. 5.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 10/25/2009 : 00:01:35
Work on Hyderabad Metro Rail to start in May
PTI 24 October 2009, 07:51pm IST
HYDERABAD: The Metro Rail Project work in Hyderabad will start by May next year and expected to be completed by the end of 2014.
The Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who held a review meeting with the officials here on Saturday, said that the prestigious MRTS Project was delayed due to various circumstances and directed the Metro Rail authorities to strictly adhere to the current bidding schedule for prequalification and financial bids.
Rosaiah, who also reviewed various Railway projects and proposals, said that he will take up with Union Minister of Railways, Mamata Banerjee, the sanction of MMTS Phase-II, increase in allocation of funds for on-going Railway projects in Andhra Pradesh, new Railway line proposals like Srikalahasti-Nadikude; Kovvur-Bhadrachalam and other lines.
He will also discuss with the Railway Minister regarding introduction of new commuter trains on various Railway lines in Andhra Pradesh and for merger of Visakhapatnam division with South Central Railway.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 10/02/2009 : 10:13:22
Hyderabad Metro extends deadline for applications
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/10/02/stories/2009100251581700.htm
Hyderabad, Oct. 1 Following representations by some of the infrastructure firms bidding for the Hyderabad Metro rail project, the Andhra Pradesh Government has extended the deadline for receipt of Request for Qualification (RFQ applications from October 3 to November 2.
The decision to extend deadline by one month, follows a similar extension given recently on the request of some of the bidders.
The bidders had cited that they require additional time for approvals by their respective boards and also to complete the spade work for this mega project. Since the project involves procurement of various certificates of experience and other technical and financial credentials from multiple agencies, vetting of legal documents of foreign companies by Indian embassies.
Multiple agencies
The bidders have also run into travel advisories sent in by some countries due to the swine flu scare.
With this development, the Hyderabad Metro has also extended the date for
submission of financial bids to January 22, 2010, according to a Hyderabad Metro
statement.
The Hyderabad Metro project has come in for re-bidding process after the State
Government had earlier this year cancelled the Maytas Infra-led consortiumâs
contract for delay in achieving financial closure in spite of extension of time.
The Maytas Infra board has taken up the matter with the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the cancellation of the contract. The mater is pending disposal.
Meanwhile, infrastructure companies, including ADAG, GVK, Lanco Infratech, are among others now in fray to bid for the project with their consortium partners.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 09/06/2009 : 19:48:18
MMTS delays disrupt schedules
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/node/62774/print
Sep 03 2009
The Hyderabad MMTS may be already notorious for its laissez-faire attitude, but the suburban rail services seem to be trying hard to best their own record of tardiness lately â trains are now plying up to an hour behind schedule now! A sizeable percentage of the Hyderabadi populace depend on MMTS and now with techies robbed off shuttle services, the demand has only increased. What really
irks commuters though is that with no announcements to inform them about the estimated delay, itâs almost like they are expected to develop some kind of Extra Sensory Perception to deal with the situation. Techiesâ work schedules are dotted with glitches, thanks to the unreliable MMTS. Nisheeth Sinha, who commutes 30 km from Sitaphalmandi to Hitec City by the MMTS every day says, âIf it happens for a day or two, it is acceptable. But day after day, trains are delayed by more than forty minutes or even an hour. And this happens during peak hours! Nobody seems to be bothered about the
timings despite the fact that it completely ruins our schedules.â
With no other mode of transport, professionals are forced to resign their everyday routines to the mercy of the MMTS. Pawan Devarasetty, a city techie,says, âI usually board the MMTS at Malakpet. But every day, the train reaches only 40 minutes past the scheduled arrival time. Added to this, there are no announcements informing us about how late the train was running. One canât even decide to go by another mode of transport as everyoneâs left clueless.
The announcement is made only seconds before the train arrives.â
âI end up working late since I reach office late. Iâve now decided not to use the services anymore,â adds Pavan.
Lack of separate MMTS tracks plays the biggest spoilsport and commuters speculate that suburban trains are stalled because long-distance express trains are given preference. Sandeep Gabbula, a financial analyst working in Mahindra Satyam, says, âThere are no separate tracks built by MMTS and they ply on the same ones built for long distance trains. Hence, MMTS trains are made to wait for almost 45 minutes.â The Railway authorities however, choose to play down peopleâs issues and spew out generic statistics instead. Chandrima Roy, Chief PRO, South Central Railways, says, âIn August 2009, only six per cent of MMTS trains were more than 20 minutes late and 89 per cent were less than 15 minutes lateâ Authorities also admit that the recent spate of rains are to be blamed for the delays. âThere have been signal failures at Sanathnagar and Hafeezpet due to
the heavy rains in the last few days,â she says. Talking about their inability to inform about the delays in advance, Chandrima
says, âMost stations like Borabanda, Hitec City etc. are only halt stations, they donât have the infrastructure to predict the position of the trains. Only stations that have the necessary equipment can do so. In another 4 months, we will have GPRS-embedded MMTS trains that will point out the exact position of the trains so that announcements are made with precision.â Until then, MMTS commuters are better off honing their ESP.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 09/03/2009 : 19:34:19
AP extends pre qualification bid for Hyderabad Metro
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/09/03/MTA5OTMw/AP_extends_pre_qualification
_bid_for_Hyderabad_Metro.html
Thursday, 03 Sep 2009
BL reported that Andhra Pradesh government has extended the date for pre qualification for the Hyderabad Metro Rail project by 18 days.
From September 15, the prequalification deadline has been extended to October 3 based on some of the bidders' request who cited difficulties in complying with the earlier deadline.
Alongside, the Government has also brought about some flexibility in bidding norms for companies in terms of the overall project size and also turnover limits.
(
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 08/17/2009 : 19:11:28
MMTS-II works to be divided
Part of work to be put off for phase 3 to reduce cost burden
HYDERABAD: Multi-Modal Transit System (MMTS) phase two could receive a much needed fillip when Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy meets senior railway officials later this week. Scheduled to be held on August 21 to discuss these and other pending railway matters, the meeting could set off a much awaited concrete plan for extending suburban rail services.
Both Railways and the State government are pretty keen on the project as it will be of immense help to the commuting public, disclosed a senior official. The only hurdle in setting phase two works in motion soon could be the final cost. The South Central Railway (SCR) has informed that as per its revised estimate, the cost could be about Rs. 1,800 crore.
Since the government has reiterated its commitment to pick up two-thirds of cost, it might have to shell out at least Rs. 1,200 crore. However, to reduce government burden during these recessionary times, officials have come out with an innovative plan.
It was suggested that the government share could be reduced to Rs. 800 crore if a part of the phase two works are hived off and put off for phase three. Instead of taking MMTS services till Manoharabad and Bhongir right away, they can be extended till Medchal and Ghatkesar, respectively.
It would take at least three years to complete phase two and the government would be comfortable spending Rs. 200 to 300 crore annually. We can take up remaining work under phase three, explained an official.
SCR cost estimates are for doubling of track between Falaknuma and Umdanagar (13.5 km) and a new line from Umdanagar to Shamshabad airport (6.5 km) which was estimated at Rs. 100.9 crore and the government had already given consent to these works.
Other expenses are for developing new stations, rolling stock and routes agreed by both the government and SCR at a meeting held in Railway Board two months ago. Routes finalised then are: Maula AliSanathnagar (21 km), Moula Ali-Malkajgiri-Sitaphalmandi-Kachiguda (10 km), Secunderabad-Medchal-Manoharabad (41 km), Secunderabad-Ghatkesar-Bhongir (46 km) and Lingampally-Patancheru (8 km).
Further, it was decided that Maula Ali-Sanathnagar and Maula Ali-Kachiguda sections have to be double line electrified to bypass for decongesting Secunderabad railway station.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 08/14/2009 : 19:48:14
MMTS Phase-II cost stops govt on tracks
Koride Mahesh, TNN 15 August 2009, 01:46am IST
Print Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: |
HYDERABAD: The green signal by the Railway Board for taking up MMTS Phase-II had put the state government on cloud nine a couple of months ago. But
now, it turns out the euphoria was shortlived as the estimated cost of the project has gone up to a whopping Rs 1,800 crore, from the initial Rs 384 crore when proposed.
The state government is clearly worried over the estimated cost as it had agreed to bear 66 per cent of the project cost, which comes to about Rs 1,000 crore.
The South Central Railway (SCR), which has prepared the estimations, sent the proposals to the state government last week. It included land acquisition, coaches and other costs of the project. The MMTS Phase-II project is spread over 148 km in six different routes around the city.
When Phase-II was first proposed in 2005-06, the estimated cost was Rs 384 crore. We thought, at the maximum, the estimated cost could have doubled. But what is being quoted now has come as a shock, an official of municipal administration and urban development department (MA&UD) said.
If the estimated cost remains high, the state government will have no option but to take up only one or two priority routes like Secunderabad to Manoharabad and Falaknuma to Shamshabad international airport, a senior official associated with the project said.
Both the Railway Board and the state government had decided to take up MMTS Phase-II on a priority basis in June 2009. It was also decided that SCR would rework on the estimations for proposed routes like Secunderabad-Medchal-Manoharabad (43 km), Secunderabad-Ghatkesar and Bhongir (46 km), Falaknuma-Umdanagar-Shamshabad (20 km), Tellapur to Patancheru (8 km), Moulali to Sanathnagar (21 km), Moulali-Malkajgiri-Sitaphalmandi and Kachiguda (10 km).
The state government is keen on MMTS Phase-II as the number of MMTS commuters has increased to one lakh passengers per day.
Also, it would reduce the traffic congestion to a great extent in the city. Buoyed by the increasing use of MMTS, the state government had conducted a feasibility study through a private firm in February 2008. The report said first priority should be given to Secunderabad-Medchal route, second to Secunderabad-Ghatkesar and the third to Shamshabad. The existing MMTS Phase-I covers about 43 kms.
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| S.ravi |
Posted - 08/03/2009 : 10:07:43
Metro goes off green track
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Metro+goes+off+green+track&artid=PHZ3TtDJD68=&SectionID=xAV59odivTs=&MainSectionID=xAV59odivTs=&SEO=&Section Name=BUzPVSKuYv7MFxnS0yZ7ng==
03 Aug 2009 01:04:54 PM IST
HYDERABAD: All construction projects must have rigorous environmental impact assessments according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. However, in a controversial move, Mass Rapid Transit System projects, which include the numerous Metro projects coming up in different Indian cities, were exempted from
the list of projects needing environmental clearance.
The Notification was issued in 2006 and since then activists and civil society
groups all over the country, including in Hyderabad, have been trying to get
Metro projects included in the list of projects that need prior environmental
clearance.
These groups are exerting pressure on the Union government demanding that MRTS
projects too need prior environmental clearance.
The Citizens for Better Public Transport in Hyderabad (CBPTH), a coalition of
groups in Andhra Pradesh that has been spearheading the agitation against the
Hyderabad Metro project and demanding more public debate on its pros and cons,
has affixed its signature to the letter to be submitted to the Minister.
C Ramachandraiah, convener of CBPTH said, âIt is ridiculous to exclude Metro
projects when airports and other construction projects need prior environmental
clearanceâ.
Projects that are listed as needing environmental clearance by the EIA
Notification need to go through certain procedures including screening, public
consultation and appraisals. âSince metro projects have been removed from the
purview of the EIA Notification they do not even need public consultations,
which is mandatory for other construction projects,â says K S Murthy, an
advocate who specialises in environmental litigation.
Public consultations refers to the process by which the concerns of local
affected persons are ascertained.
The CBPTH says that since public consultations are not happening, the Metro
officials have no incentive to place any records or documents pertaining to the
project in the public domain. âThey have refused to divulge any information
about the project,â said Ramachandraiah. âWe are not against the Metro per
se, if the project is good then people will support it, all we are asking for is
more transparency,â he added.
The surprising thing is that MRTS projects were included in the list of projects
that needed clearance in the draft EIA Notification issued in 2005. In a letter
dated September 15, 2005, a copy of which is with Expresso, none other than
Delhi Metro Managing Director, E Sreedharan, who was a consultant to the
Hyderabad Metro, urged the Environment and Forests Ministry to exempt MRTS
projects from environmental clearance.
The letter reads âMRTS projects are environment friendly, they reduce air and
noise pollution, bring down the number of accidents and help in the overall
preservation and enhancement of city environment.
Requirement of obtaining environmental clearance for MRTS projects will be a
retrograde step and would cause a delay in their implementation. I would request
the MOEF to consider excluding MRTS projects like the Railway projects from the
requirement of prior environmental clearance before their implementationâ.
Subsequently, the 2006 EIA Notification dropped MRTS projects from requiring
prior environmental clearance.
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