AP govt to speed up Vizag metro rail, other projects

Visakhapatnam: The decision to draw a blueprint to develop Visakhapatnam as a mega metropolis among the first list of four cities by NITI Aayog along with Varanasi, Surat and Mumbai has once again brought to the centre-stage the need to take up works on pending projects like metro rail.

The city’s landscape is also expected to undergo a change with the decision of the Andhra Pradesh Government to make Visakhapatnam the sea of administration from Dasara festival. As part of it, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has given enough indications to relocate to the city.

Sounding a positive note, Minister for Industries and Commerce Gudivada Amarnath told the media after a review meeting here “there are several projects in the pipeline including the metro rail, which will be taken up on a fast-track mode.” Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy, who attended the meeting with senior officials directed the Visakhapatnam Metro Rail Corporation to complete technical evaluation of the metro rail project by the New Year.

For nine years or so, the metro rail project has still remained in the conceptual stage. The DPR, which was revised last year put the project cost at Rs 14,309 crore from Rs 8,300 crore proposed during the erstwhile TDP regime. As per the revised DPR, which is yet to be submitted to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for approval, will be funded jointly by the Centre, the State Government and PPP investors.

The Government of India is supposed to grant 20 per cent grant for Viability Grant Funding, State to give another 20 per cent and the remaining to be invested by the PPP partners. The project envisages a network over 76.9 km connecting Kurmannapalem Junction (near Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to Bhogapuram International Airport. The first phase of the airport is being developed at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore by the GMR Group.

It will have four corridors from Kurnannapalem to Kommadi, Gurudwara to Old Post Office, Thatichetlapalem to China Waltair and Kommadi to Bhogapuram. The six-lane expressway with a lion’s share of funding from the Union Government is also proposed to connect Bhogapuram.

During the review meeting, the plans to develop a beach corridor, natural history museum, signature tower and convention centre at Kapuluppada, aqua sports complex at Mangamaripeta, science city atop Kailasagiri hilltop park and a crescent type ring road were discussed. A proposal to convert Kalavani auditorium on the lines of Ravindra Bharat in Hyderabad also figured at the meeting.

GVL Narasimha Rao, BJP national spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP said in March that in response to a question by him, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri informed in a written reply that they were yet to receive DPR as per Revised Metro Rail Policy of 2017.

“The YSRCP Government is trying to create hype over pending projects as elections are due in a few months. Let them explain what they have done in the past four years,” TDP politburo member and former Minister for Urban Development Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, asked.