The State Government, concessionaire building the project L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) and special purpose vehicle Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMR) have quite a few thorny issues to thrash out before the completed sections of metro rail are thrown open to the citizens.
While there seems to be a thaw in relations between L&TMRH and the Government with the announcement of revised completion dates of November this year and August next year for opening Corridor One - Miyapur to L.B. Nagar and Corridor Three - Nagole to at least till Hi-Tec City, respectively, a formal order is yet to be issued.
The Government had, in fact, advised L&TMRH to expedite the project when it had sought extension of the completion date of July 2017 (as per Concession Agreement) by at least another 18 months and compensation for cost overrun of up to Rs.3,000 crore due to ‘delays’ in providing right of way and short lived idea of alignment change at three places last year. “We are ready to give an extension of time for completing the project but there is no question of Government offering financial compensation. If L&TMRH has had a cost overrun they will have to come out with verifiable proof on how they arrived at the figure,” affirmed senior officials, seeking anonymity.
L&TMRH was also banking on the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) set up by the Centre to bail it out considering that it had already invested little more than Rs.12,000 crore into the project, but it was not to be as it required the personal intervention of the Prime Minister Office (PMO) to put an ongoing project into the funding list.
“The Government is ready to sympathetically consider any request from L&TMRH save funding or help in infusion of funds as it could lead to legal issues,” senior officials argue. There is also a strong feeling among the top echelons of the Government that the concessionnaire has been carefully filing correspondence to build a strong case for arbitration if need be. “Officially, L&TMRH and parent L&T’s top management has been assuring us of completing the project and denying any move to go to arbitration but the Government is prepared,” they attest. L&TMRH too is hamstrung in the sense it cannot open any of the three commercial malls at Erramanzil and Punjagutta or go for divesting of stake till it completes a year after Commencement of Operations Date (COD).
Apart from these, there are also issues of land acquisition in some places and question whether the elevated metro rail viaduct would move into the old city after the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) on Corridor Two - Jubilee Bus Station to Falaknuma. “There are some grey areas,” admit senior officials.
