Chandrababu Naidu for German funding for Vijayawada Metro

Hyderabad: Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC) is exploring the possibility of partly funding the Vijayawada Metro Rail Project with the assistance of a German funding agency. While the AMRC is holding discussions with various banks and examining other options, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu directed the AMRC to explore the possibility of German funding agency aiding the project.

According to assurance given in the AP Reorganisation Act, the Central government  sanctioned Metro rail projects for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. The cost of Vijayawada Metro Rail project is Rs 6,769 crore, including land acquisition and relief & rehabilitation (R&R) cost. AMRC had submitted the proposal to the Centre for final clearance on March 20, 2017. But the Centre had rejected the proposal with the directive that the proposal should be factoring the new metro rail policy in it and had asked for resubmission.

The Central government has also clubbed the proposal with discharge of tenders by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). AMRC has called Expression of Interest (EOI) for the preparation of Detail Project Report (DPR) for Vijayawada Metro Rail project. Meanwhile, the state government has extended the metro corridors up to Gannavaram airport, Jakkampudi and Krishna canal junctions, stretching around 43 km. The state government has permitted the AMRC to borrow Rs 1,859 crore from HUDCO and other banking institutions. 

Accordingly, AMRC has initiated action for securing loan and held discussions with several banks. Bank of India (Rs 509 crore), Vijaya Bank (Rs 500 crore), Allahabad Bank (Rs 500 crore) and Corporation Bank (Rs 350 crore) have expressed interest to finance the Vijayawada metro rail project. 

The banks agreed to give loan at the rate of 8.65 per cent interest. Meanwhile, the CM  held a meeting on the  Vijayawada project.  In the meeting, Mr. Naidu expressed his desire to explore alternatives. He said Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau (K f W) German funding agency is assisting in  funding of DPR for light metro rail project at Vijayawada. Accordingly,  AMRC called Expression of Interest with K f W. Five foreign consultants with their Indian partners' were shortlisted. The K f W has released Request for Proposal (RFP) document to all the shortlisted consultants and the process is underway.

AMRC has submitted the proposals to the Centre for the development of Visakhapatnam metro rail project under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.  Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC) has been appointed as transaction advisor for providing services to undertake the implementation of VMR under PPP mode. The State Government has permitted AMRC to proceed with the tendering process for selection of developer under PPP mode. The proposed Visakhapatnam Metro Rail Project will have a total length of 42 kilometers and the estimated cost is Rs 8,800 crore. Expression of Interest from interested international and national bidders was released on September 7, 2017. The pre-bid meeting held by the AMRC was attended by 7 international and 11 Indian bidders. AMRC has fixed the last date as January 25, 2018 for submission of Expression of Interest by the bidders.