Telangana Cabinet approves Rs 69,100 crore plan for Metro expansion

Metro Rail expansion would take place on all the routes connecting Hyderabad to routes leading to different parts of the country, said KT Rama Rao

Hyderabad: The State Cabinet has cleared a massive Rs 69,100 crore plan for augmenting public transport infrastructure in the State capital with the approval for new Metro Rail projects connecting different areas in and beyond Hyderabad. This will include eight Metro Extension Corridors and four Outer Ringh Road (ORR) Metro Corridors totalling 278 kilometres at a cost of about Rs.60,000 crore. Apart from this, the Cabinet also approved the BHEL- Lakdikapul line with connectivity to Miyapur (26km) and Nagole-LB Nagar (5km) with a revised cost estimate of Rs 9,100 crore as a joint venture partnership project of the State and Central governments.

The Chief Minister has instructed the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department and Metro Rail authorities to get Preliminary Project Reports and Detailed Project Reports prepared for all these corridors. The total cost will be about Rs.69,100 crore. With 69 km (3 Corridors) of the operational Metro, 31 km of Airport Metro, 31 km of BHEL-Lakdikapul with Miyapur connection and Nagole-LB Nagar connectivity; 5.5 km of Old City Metro and 278 km of the new eight extension and four ORR Metro Corridors, the envisaged Metro coverage in the Hyderabad Metropolitan area will be about 415 km.

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MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao said the State was confident of getting Central assistance for the proposed Metro Rail expansion.

“If Central assistance does not come forth, we will raise funds on our own,” he said, adding that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao planned to make the city’s transport system the best in the country.

According to the Minister, the Metro Rail expansion would take place on all routes connecting Hyderabad to areas around the city that lead to different parts of the country. On the Godavarikani route, the government was proposing to build a Metro Rail corridor between Jubilee Bus station and Tumkunta.

“This will be a double layer project with one layer dedicated to vehicular movement and the second layer for the Metro,” he said.

Patny-Kandlakoya route

On the Adilabad – Nagpur route, the Cabinet has cleared the extension of Metro from Patny station connecting the ORR at Kandlakoya. Since this extension involved defence lands, the State government would pursue the matter with the Centre for procuring lands.

Isnapur to Miyapur

The other corridor to be developed was between Isnapur and Miyapur and later from Miyapur to Lakdikapul.

On the Vijayawada route, the Metro would be extended from LB Nagar to Pedda Amberpet, while on the Warangal route, it would be extended from Uppal to Bibi Nagar. In addition to this, there would be a Metro line connecting Uppal and ECIL crossroads.

On the Bengaluru Highway, the Metro line would be extended from Shamshabad to Shadnagar via Kothur. In addition to this, there would be another line to be extended from Shamshabad to Kandukur. This was to provide faster connectivity to the upcoming Pharma City.

The Chief Minister had already laid the foundation stone for the Metro connection from Raidurg to the Shamshabad Airport. The Minister also said the Cabinet had cleared a proposal to lay a Metro line all along the ORR, spanning over 159 km. There was no need for land acquisition along the ORR, the Minister said.