Old City Metro project in limbo, while Hyderabad Airport line moves ahead
Hyderabad: Hyderabad is developing in all directions, with swanky malls, gated communities and high-rise buildings, and a Metro Rail link that stretches 69 km, serving a large number of IT and BPO employees, but the Old City is cut off, at least as far as the Metro Rail project is concerned.
Rapid progress has been made on the Hyderabad Airport Metro Line (HAML), while the Old City Metro has stood still. While authorities have applauded the Telangana government for its progress on the Airport Metro, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Authority (HMRL) has shifted the blame to L&T, while the government has not answered the call despite being ready to implement it.
It has been four years since Hyderabad's first metro line became operational from Miyapur in 2017 and covers three corridors — Miyapur to LB Nagar, JBS to MGBS, Nagole to Raidurgam. Work on the 31-km Airport Express Corridor from Raidurg to Narsingi Junction, home to numerous IT companies, has been accelerated.
On the other hand, HMRL officials said that the state government will decide the fate of the five-km Metro Rail project from Mahatma Gandhi Bus Stand (MGBS) to Falaknuma via Salar Jung Museum, Charminar, Shamsheergunj, the heart of the Old City, shattering the hopes of the residents.
The Airport Express Metro Corridor will take off from the Raidurg terminal at Mindspace Junction, pass through Biodiversity Junction, Khajaguda road and touch Nanakramguda junction on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). An HAML official told Deccan Chronicle that the “peg marking of the alignment” had begun besides placing reflective boards in the road medians to create a visual link between the starting point and the destination. These boards will help identify the chainage of the station.
HAML authorities are preparing bid documents to float tenders in engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) mode. Officials said the nodal agency has been preparing bid documents and a tender will be floated soon.
As for the Old City Metro project, although the authorities began road widening marks on the structures four years ago, the work is yet to begin. They said that unless the entire five-km widening of the road is taken up in one go, several bottlenecks would arise on the stretch and wholesalers and retailers would have to shut down their businesses until the widening of the road. As there is no alternative route to the core city, commuters will suffer major traffic bottlenecks until the road widening works are completed.
