India - '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 (MRTS) was reached when the Andhra Pradesh government and Maytas Metro Limited (MML), 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 concession 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.

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

Dr. Reddy 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 civil works for the project would start from March.

N. V. S. Reddy, MD, HMRL, later said 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 consortium had made the best offer as it would get revenues from metro rail and also from 269 acres of land to be made available for construction of commercial complexes, stations and depots. The metro rail fare would range from Rs. 8 to Rs. 19 on an average and they would not deprive the APSRTC of its business.