Amaravati Metro Rail project in limbo

Vijayawada: The district administration has landed in a dilemma following the Public Investment Board’s (PIB) reported disinclination to promote the cause of Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC). This latest development irked the state government as Krishna district administration has already issued land acquisition notification. If PIB’s decision attracts the attention of the bankers, they may not come forward to extend financial assistance to Amaravati Metro, as the government has already directed  to approach the bankers to get around Rs 1,800 crore, in order to address the land acquisition compensation and other development issues.

The Vijayawada Metro proposal came up for approval on March 20 at the finance ministry’s Public Investment Board meeting. Even social media platforms are showing keen interest on the ongoing developments related to Amaravati Metro. A netizen, who has thorough knowledge about the Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffic (PHPDT), has stated that nobody cares about financial internal rate of return (FIRR) and PHPDT. Do countries like Netherlands think of these things, he questioned and suggested to the TD government in the state to make sure the approvals are done by talking with the BJP at the Centre.

In fact, the Public Investment Board headed by the finance secretary, and having around 10 secretaries from various ministries appraises and gives its green signal, and place the project proposal before the Cabinet for final appro-val. Finance Ministry is worried over the AMRC proposal, as the PIB raised concerns about how the population and low ridership issues in capital city, as they are linked to capital incentive. Even Niti Aayog has its own observations about the ridership and population requirements, about which the state government could not give a satisfactory report to the Ministry of Finance and PIB also.

As per guidelines, the ridership benchmark for having a Metro is fixed at 20,000 Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffic and the city has to have a population of two million people, and in contrast to those guidelines, Amaravati Metro has stated that city population is around 11 lakh, according to sources. Generally, Metro projects are jointly funded by the Union and state governments.