KTR asks GMR to hand over 48 acres for airport metro

Hyderabad: KT Rama Rao said that by introducing more coaches, improving feeder services, and developing better footpaths, the current metro ridership of 5 lakhs per day can be doubled and vehicular congestion reduced in the city.

The minister for IT, Industries and Commerce and Municipal Administration and Urban Development was speaking at a review meeting on the airport metro and other metro expansion projects on Thursday in Metro Rail Bhavan.

In response to a detailed powerpoint presentation made by Metro Rail MD NVS Reddy, the minister instructed the departments and organisations concerned to hand over the identified government properties to Hyderabad Airport Metro Ltd immediately to start the construction activity.

Broadly explaining the vision of chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao to make Hyderabad a global city with world-class infrastructure facilities, KTR emphasised the importance of public transportation in reducing congestion and pollution and turning the city into a globally competitive city to attract huge investments and talent.

He also directed the GMR airport authorities to hand over 48 acres of land in the airport area for the construction of the Metro Rail depot. He requested CS to hold periodical coordination meetings and facilitate expeditious execution of the airport metro project, and also pursue with the senior officers in the Government of India for approval of the Rs 9,100 crore BHEL-Lakdikapul and Nagole-LB Nagar (36 km) project as a joint venture project between the state and central governments.

The minister directed the MD to start surveys of all the new metro corridors recently approved by the Cabinet and get Preliminary Project Reports/Detailed Project Reports ready in the next few months for sending to the Government of India.

He advised special chief secretary finance K Ramakrishna Rao and MA&UD special chief secretary Arvind Kumar to explore different funding options for the new metro projects. He has also instructed the collectors of Hyderabad, Medchal and Sangareddy districts to identify vacant government land parcels nearer to the existing and proposed metro stations for developing multi-level car parking complexes. The meeting was attended by chief secretary A Santi Kumari and other senior officers.

In a separate meeting held with Akbaruddin Owaisi, KTR directed the Metro Rail MD to expedite the land acquisition process in the Old City metro corridor and start construction. He also asked for a plan to extend the line to the airport from Falaknuma.