Vizag’s metro, new railway zone stuck in blame game

Politics over Progress

• Vizag Metro Rail: Initial plans scrapped, cost escalated 3x to Rs 14,300 cr due to delays
• SCoR: Centre blames State for not handing over promised land
• Metro rail project likely to be delayed further due to land acquisition and elections
• Completion of SCoR depends on land handover and completion of zonal headquarters

Visakhapatnam: The hype notwithstanding, two big ticket projects proposed long ago, the Visakhapatnam Metro Rail and the formation of South Coast Railway (SCoR), the eighteenth railway zone in India, have failed to take off during 2023.

With elections fast approaching, both the parties in power at the Centre and in the State are indulging in blame games for inordinate delay. Consequently, the costs involved in creating the required infrastructure are escalating exorbitantly.

Ironically, the metro project was supposed to be taken up during the erstwhile TDP government. After notification of global tenders, Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) had come forward to collaborate by giving $1.4 billion to Visakhapatnam Metro Rail project. The Korean firm had volunteered to commit around $90 million at an annual interest of five to six per cent. After a change in the government, it was decided to float tenders afresh by revising the DPR. In the revised DPR, it has been envisaged to extend the area of metro network to 76.9 km connecting jaggery town of Anakapalle to Bhogapuram, where an international airport is under construction by the GMR Group.

Inordinate delay has led to project cost escalation to Rs 14,300 crore. The YSRCP government recently cleared the revised DPR for sending it to the Centre for viability gap funding and required clearance. With elections scheduled in the next few months and land acquisition to take time, the dream project is certain to be delayed further. During his last visit to Visakhapatnam, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced the in-principle sanction of a six-lane expressway from Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram at an estimated cost of Rs 6,300 crore. He had said the speed with which it will be implemented depends on identification of the land required for the project by the State.

Earlier DPR had mooted a rail network of 42.5 km under the aegis of Andhra Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (APMRCL).

"We are very generous in sanctioning the project. However, the State has failed to submit a formal proposal to the Centre," BJP MP and Zonal Railway Users' Consultative Committee member GVL Narasimha Rao told Bizz Buzz.

A senior official of APMRCL said they will forward the revised DPR to the authorities in the Government of India soon as the State Cabinet has already approved it.

Another long awaited project viz the establishment of SCoR with headquarters in Visakhapatnam - the eighteenth zone in India, has turned into a bone of contention between the Union and State governments. The Centre, has been repeatedly saying that they have already sanctioned Rs 106.89 crore for construction of required infrastructure like zonal headquarters and quarters. The Railways has also finalised designs for construction on 52.2 acres at Mudasarlova in the city by issuing an executive order entrusting the Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), East Coast Railway.

However, the State government has to hand over the site in lieu of land it has acquired from the railways for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). During his recent visit, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said they will launch work within 10 days of handing over the site by the district authorities. The laying of the foundation stone for the project by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit last year was dropped at the eleventh hour and accordingly it was not included in the itinerary. For the BJP, the project is a prestigious one as Modi himself announced the sanction of the zone during a pre-election rally in Visakhapatnam in 2019.

"So far despite the blame games by the Centre and the State government, not a single brick has been laid. We want that pending construction of zonal headquarters, let the zone's functioning should be operationalised by upgrading the office of Divisional Railway Manager as that of the General Manager," Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener JV Satyanarayana Murhty, told Bizz Buzz.