Detailed project reports for Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-2 in final stage: Official

Hyderabad: The detailed project reports (DPRs) for all the corridors of Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-2 project, which is expected to cost about Rs 32,237 crore, are being given final touches, a senior official said on Sunday.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy reviewed the progress of DPRs preparation of Metro Rail Phase-2 with senior officers of the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department recently.

Hyderabad Airport Metro Limited (HAML) Managing Director NVS Reddy made a detailed presentation, explaining the alignment, salient features, station locations etc., of the Metro Rail Phase-2 having six corridors covering 116.2 km, an official release said Sunday.

The HAML Managing Director informed the chief minister that DPRs for all the corridors are being given final touches and that HAML is awaiting the traffic study report of the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) being prepared for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area by Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.

The traffic projections for Metro corridors have to be cross-checked with CMP, as a mandatory requirement for submission of DPRs for Government of India approvals, it said.

After in-depth discussions of the pros and cons of different alternatives, Revanth Reddy approved the broad contours of Metro Rail Phase-2 corridors as Corridor IV: Nagole – RGIA (Airport Metro Corridor) 36.6 km, Corridor V: Raidurg – Kokapet Neopolis 11.6 km, Corridor VI: MGBS – Chandrayangutta (Old City Metro) 7.5 km, Corridor VII: Miyapur – Patancheru 13.4 km, Corridor VIII:LB Nagar – Hayat Nagar 7.1 km and Corridor IX: RGIA – Fourth City (Skill University) 40 km, totaling 116.2 km.

DPRs for Corridor IV to Corridor VIII will be finalised in the next few weeks for approval by the state government and for forwarding them to the Central government’s approval, it said.

As per the special emphasis being laid by the chief minister, the DPR is being prepared for the Fourth City Metro connectivity line (Corridor IX: RGI Airport – Fourth City) in an innovative way with several attractive features and will be submitted for the Central government’s approval separately after a few months, the release said.

The entire Metro Rail Phase-2 project is expected to cost about Rs 32,237 crore including about Rs 8,000 crore for the Fourth City Metro connectivity (Rs 24,237 crore plus Rs 8,000 crore), it said, adding the project is proposed to be implemented as a joint venture project of Telangana government and Government of India like most other Metro Rail projects in the country.

The Corridor IX with length of about 40 km, will have about two km of underground portion within the Airport area; elevated portion of about 20 km; and ‘At Grade’ (road level) portion of about 18 km.

Out of the total length of 36.6 km of  Corridor IV (Airport Metro), 35 km is elevated and 1.6 km is underground, with 24 metro stations, including one underground station, which is the Airport station.

On Corridor VI (Old City Metro), the official said about 1,100 properties are getting affected in the road widening and for Metro alignment. Notifications have already been issued for 400 affected properties and the rest are in progress, he said.

There are about 103 religious, heritage and other sensitive structures on this route and all of them are being saved through appropriate engineering solutions and adjustment of Metro pillar locations. This is a wholly elevated metro corridor with about six stations, the release added.