The Railway Board has finally cleared the Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS) Phase II project of Hyderabad city taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 641 crore to expand the suburban railway network by another 107 km.
The project will be implemented jointly by the State government and the South Central Railway (SCR) through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) yet to be floated.
Disclosing this to The Hindu here on Wednesday, T. Stanley Babu, advisor, Municipal Administration & Urban Development, said the Railway Board gave its approval three days ago after detailed discussions on the project which the State government wants to implement at any cost to reduce traffic congestion on the city roads.
Mere formality
He said the project would now be posed to Planning Commission but its nod was a mere formality. The Board gave the clearance following a clear assurance by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah backed by an executive order of the government, to bear two-thirds of the project cost. Mr. Babu said the SPV might not require more than six months to complete each of the six segments of the Phase II as a single-line track was already available. Phase II would be completed in 2012 to handle 3 lakh passengers a day.
It will comprise six segments -- Secunderabad-Bollarum-Medchal (28 km), Falaknuma-Umdanagar-Shamshabad Airport (20 km), Secunderabad-Ghatkesar (19 km), Moulali-Sanathnagar chord line (21 km), Kacheguda-Sitaphalmandi-Malkajgiri-Moulali chord line (10 km) and Telapur-Patancheru (9 km).
Meanwhile, financial bids are being opened on June 7 for the Rs. 12,236-crore Hyderabad metro rail project aimed at covering a distance of 71.16 km distance through an elevated railway line. Eight out of 12 consortia, which responded to the tenders and submitted technical bids, have been shortlisted for participating in the financial bids. They are Soma, Reliance, Essar, L&T, Telstroy, Lanco, GMR and GVK.
