Telangana Government has directed the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) to initiate surveys for determining the broad contours of Metro Phase-II as part of expansion programme and prepare the detailed project report so that it can be taken up with the Centre for appropriate permissions.
Chief Secretary S.P. Singh held a meeting with top officials at the Secretariat where HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy was told about the Government’s thinking on going ahead with the expansion plan. There has to be a coordinated action plan involving various departments like the GHMC, HMDA, Collectors of Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Sangareddy and Medchal along with L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad and GMR Group for implementing the plan.
A delegation led by K.T. Ramarao had held preliminary talks with the Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) to explore the possibility of getting financial aid for the next phase of the metro, Mr. Reddy informed earlier. The agency had funded the Delhi Metro and few other such projects in the country. But, to take it forward, detailed project reports (DPRs) are required and the sanction of any loan has to be routed through the Union Government.
The HMR MD was reluctant to provide more details about the expansion proposal, but it is clear the first priority would be to connect to the International Airport at Samshabad. Despite other routes proposed earlier for taking up the elevated metro rail, a fresh survey is expected soon though it is not yet known if it would be given to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) which did the first phase.
The CS also looked at the feeder services and last-mile connectivity for the metro trains being operated in the 30-km inaugural run of Miyapur-Ameerpet-Nagole stretch and called for station-wise mapping with frequency details and matching the same with the TSRTC buses to bring in more efficiency.
Early introduction of electric vehicles and augmentation of RTC services was sought from the Transport Department.
Balance portions of the first phase of the project - stretches between Ameerpet and L.B. Nagar (16 km) of Corridor-I; Ameerpet and Hitec City (10 km) of Corridor-III; and JBS to MGBS (9 km) of Corridor-II are to be completed in various phases starting from June this year, said Mr. Reddy.
Municipal Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy, HMDA Commissioner T. Chiranjeevulu, Collectors Yogita Rana, M.V. Reddy, L&TMRH CEO & MD K.V.B. Reddy and other senior officials were present at the meeting.
