Delhi Metro ends MoU with Amaravati Rail

Vijayawada: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which had initiated many prestigious metro rail projects in the nation, has cancelled its MoU with the Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC).

The DMRC, in this regard, wrote a letter to walk out of the MoU and the AMRC too expressed its support to end it.

It is learnt that the DMRC had requested AMRC to pay their Rs 75 core capital expenditure to which the latter refused. The AMRC agreed to pay only the amount spent as the works have not progressed. With this, the MoU between DMRC and AMRC seems to have broken and the DMRC is withdrawing its employees too.

It is a known fact that there is a difference of opinion between the DMRC and AMRC, which formed as an SPV. The state government hadn't got any permission for the Vijayawada metro project from the Union government forcing the DMRC to cancel the tenders twice and this led to some differences between officials of both the metro rail corporations.

The AMRC officials said the works would have commenced by this time had not the tenders been cancelled.

Cancellation of tenders and the Union government asking the state to go for an alternative made the officials propose of light metro rail.

On the other side, metro expert Sridharan had resigned, though it has not been approved yet. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was suggested that he should try to get permission for metro in the old model but he could not. At present, tenders have been are called for on DPRs for light metro project. However, non-assignment of the tender process of DPRs on light metro to the DMRC has led to dissatisfaction among the officials. Surprisingly, it was the DMRC which first proposed Vijayawada metro project and submitted the DPR.

The AMRC had released EOI tenders on light metro project without considering the DMRC. Interestingly, the bids of KFW, a German-based company, were opened in Germany.

Further interesting is that the AMRC and DMRC entered into an MoU even before the Union government accorded all the required permissions for the project.

After the DPR line alignment survey was conducted, tenders were called for again. With no progress in the works, the payment has become controversial.
DMRC MD Mangu Singh opined that light metro isn't possible through the PPP mode and that it should be taken up by the government as its project. In such a situation, the chances are very less for the DMRC to work with AMRC again.