First Metro to run in 3 years, Hyderabad

The Metro Rail project will transform Hyderabad from hi-tech city to hi-speed city, said V.B. Gadgil, managing director, L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd on Friday.

He was launching India’s biggest casting yard at Uppal to produce segments that would erect pillars for the project.

He said that the first Metro train would start plying three years from now and the entire 71-km stretch would be operational in five years, since “we are on schedule,” with land acquisition nearly complete. There was a delay in land acquisition for the Miyapur depot earlier this year and the company had expressed some concern about meeting the deadline due to this.
“We are ready to initiate the preparatory works within the next two weeks even on Corridor-II, where we are facing some resistance from traders in Sultan Bazaar,” Mr Gadgil remarked.

L&T Metro Rail is executing the Rs17,000-crore Hyderabad Metro Rail project on build-own-operate-transfer basis. Mr Gadgil said that so far the company had spent Rs500 crore and not yet started withdrawal of loans.

In April 2011, the company achieved financial closure on the project, with a consortium of 10 banks, led by State Bank of India, sanctioning the entire debt requirement of Rs11,480 crore.

“Currently, we are meeting the fund requirement with an equity component. We may start withdrawal of loans from July, based on the requirement,” he said.

Mr Gadgil said the rupee depreciation may have some impact on the overall project cost, but the company is negotiating with the vendors to cover the cost overruns.

“There is no question of increase in the cost of the Metro Rail ticket on account of cost escalation. We will cover the losses by completing the project fast and with effective maintenance methods,” he added.

L&T Metro Rail is now in the process of finalising vendors for rolling stock and is in talks with Bombardier Inc, Hyundai Rot-em, BEML Ltd, CAF and a Chinese firm, he said.