Realigning Metro to cost Telangana Rs 800 crore

Hyderabad: The realignment of Metro Rail at three locations in the city, as sought by the Telangana state government, will not lead to as heavy a financial burden as is being claimed by project developer L&T, said Hyderabad Metro Rail officials.

While L&T has been claiming that the realignment will impose an additional burden of nearly Rs 2,000 crore, HMR officials have submitted a report to the government that it would only be about Rs 800 crore.

HMR officials opined that that this could not be termed as an "additional burden" since the government had agreed to pay compensation of about Rs 400 crore to property owners in the old city for demolition in the old alignment.

However, with the implementation of the new Land Acquisition Act, the compensation had doubled to Rs 800 crore and the same money could be utilised to bear the additional financial burden on account of the realignment.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is keen on realigning the Metro at Sultan Bazaar to save heritage markets, nearly Assembly building to save the T-martyrs’ memorial and in the Old City to save religious structures.

He had even made an announcement to this effect in the Legislative Assembly and also held series of discussions with L&T officials on the issue.

HMR managing director Mr N.V.S. Reddy had submitted a report to the government explaining the financial implications if Metro was re-routed.

He had stated that the Metro route would increase by 3.2 km on Corridor-II due to realignment in the Old city but only a few properties would be needed to be acquired, against the 960 properties earlier.