L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad, building and running the ₹20,000-crore Hyderabad Metro Rail project, is making operating profits after two of the corridors were thrown open for commercial operations carrying close to four lakh passengers a day in the past two years. Yet, for the project to break even, it could take up to seven to eight years, said HMR managing director N.V.S. Reddy on Tuesday.
“We have succeeded in building a high capital intensive metro rail project in the public-private partnership mode for the first time in the world against all odds. Now, the challenge is to make it financially viable as very few metros are profitable,” he said.
Flanked by L&TMRH CEO and MD K.V.B. Reddy and COO A.K. Saini, Mr. Reddy reminded that L&TMRH is paying an interest of ₹1,300 crore a year for the loans taken but refused to share precise figures of the “profit or loss” at this juncture because “enemies of the project are continuing to try and sabotage the project even now like writing to banks not to give any loans”.
The metro project was conceived to make use of 269 acres for real estate development even when it was initially was to be built by the government and not an inch of land more than that has been given to the L&TMRH, he claimed.
However, as per the Concessionnaire Agreement, L&TMRH has been permitted to build 18.5 million square metres but it has built just 1.3 million square metres in the last seven years, including malls at Punjagutta, Erramanzil, Moosarambagh and Hi-Tec City.
Rising footfall
Metro rail system running in Corridor I (Miyapur to L.B. Nagar; 28-km Red line) and Corridor 3 (Nagole to Raidurg; 29-km Blue line 29) is seeing passenger count rising by at least 40-50,000 everyday with a surge of about 70,000 passengers more per day during the TSRTC strike period. The newly opened Raidurg terminal station is witnessing footfall of about 30,000 a day, he said.
Around 14 lakh smart cards were issued and every day 2.20 lakh commuters are making use of them. Introducing six-car metro trains from the current three-car ones will only lead to more losses to the concessionnaire as the “crowded trains are seen during few hours in the morning and evening only”. With average train frequency of three-four minute and more speed for the trains soon, the passenger rush will be ‘evened out’ is the MD’s reasoning.
COO Mr. Saini indicated that app-based and QR code-based ticketing systems are likely to be introduced by end of this month and that testing of the systems is being done.
