Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government
today decided to award the Rs 12,132-crore Hyderabad Metro
Rail Project to Larsen and Toubro Limited.
The state Cabinet, which met here today under the
chairmanship of Chief Minister K Rosaiah, approved the
recommendations of a three-member committee to award the
project to L&T that has emerged as the lowest bidder.
L&T has sought Rs 1,458 crore as Viability Gap Funding--a
one-time grant from the government to infrastructure projects
undertaken through public private partnerships. The VGF amount
would be released by the Government of India while the AP
government would spend Rs 1,980 crore towards acquisition of
204 acres of land at two places in Hyderabad as well as relief
and rehabilitation of the affected people.
The state government would release Rs 500 crore as the
first instalment in the current financial year, according to
Minister for Information J Geeta Reddy.
L&T would form a special purpose vehicle and enter
into a concession agreement with the state government within a
month of the Letter of Award. It would have to provide bank
guarantee for Rs 360 crore as performance security and achieve
financial closure in six months, the Minister said.
Ground work for the project was scheduled to commence in
January 2011, she added.
The project would be completed in five years, covering
three high-density traffic corridors over a 70 km route.
The traffic demand per day is estimated to be 15 lakh
passengers in 2014, which will go up to 22 lakh in 2024.
PTI
