A metro train near the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in Hyderabad on Thursday The government plans to extend the service to the Old City.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
The Congress Government has allocated ₹1,100 crore in all for the construction of the next phase of the Hyderabad Metro Rail in the twin cities for the year on Thursday. It includes ₹100 crore for extension of metro to the international airport at Shamshabad and ₹500 crore for extension of metro line into Old City from MGBS to Falaknuma and onward to Chandrayanagutta.
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikaramarka informed the Legislative Assembly during the budget speech that one of the major problems of the twin cities was the growing traffic and one of the ways to tackle the problem was to strengthen the public transport network and metro rail was one of the “most important” part of public transport.
The first phase of operations was in three corridors of close to 70 km and “having become wiser with the experience of first phase metro, our government has re-examined the second phase proposals and modified them accordingly”, he said.
Hence, the Government was proposing to develop 78.4 km of five extended corridors with an outlay of ₹24,042 crore. As part of this project, the metro rail will be extended to the Old City and will be further connected to the Shamshabad Airport. Similarly, the present corridors from Nagole to LB Nagar would also be extended. The Deputy Chief Minister said the government proposed to develop Nagole, LB Nagar and Chandrayanagutta stations as interchange stations.
There was also a plan to extend the metro facility from Miyapur to Patancheru, LB Nagar to Hayathnagar. These proposals apart from catering to the needs of various sections of the society, would enable equitable development of various parts of the city, he added.
Incidentally, the budget has also announced allocation of about ₹50 crore for the MMTS phase two where the government has a pact to share the total project cost of about ₹1,150 crore with the South Central Railway (SCR). The railways which claims to have spent about ₹580 crore, has in recent times opened new suburban lines towards Umdanagar near Shamshabad and Medchal.
