Principal Advisor to the Government of Andhra Pradesh on Metro Rail E. Sreedharan will take a fresh look at the Metro Rail proposed in the city. Dr. Sreedharan will arrive here on October 15 on a two-day visit. The Andhra Pradesh Government has sought the support of the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation, to which Dr. Sreedharan is Principal Advisor.
During the last one year, the GVMC has done some exercise by inviting tenders for preparation of feasibility report and DPRs for 20 km of Metro Rail on two corridors and shortlisted six companies. After the TDP government came to power, it has been decided that the Metro Rail cover a longer stretch, even if it means increasing the fee for the company finalised on pro rata basis. The tentative cost of the feasibility study of Rs.1.6 crore was to have been equally footed by the Central and State governments. Sources in the GVMC say that proposals for BRTS corridors, two on which considerable part of work has been completed and brought into operation, will be placed before him.
Dr. Sreedharan will take a fresh look at the feasibility and the consequent work on preparation of detailed project reports, sources say.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu wants the Metro Rail for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam to be completed in three and a half years.
Under the Low Carbon Mobility Plan, four corridors, taking the projected traffic density up to 2030, have been identified. The State government has constituted a Technical Committee, comprising, among others, the Chief Engineer of the DMRC, faculty from the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, and a professor in CEPT University, Ahmedabad, to evaluate the tender documents for feasibility and DPRs submitted by the six companies. However, with the government enlisting the DMRC, the tender documents, along with the bank guarantee, will now be returned to the companies concerned, the sources say.
