Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), the Telangana government’s special purpose vehicle to oversee the metro rail construction, has started a fresh survey of the Old City route from MGBS, Imlibun to Falaknuma of Corridor II (Green Line) of 5.5 km.
“We are going to map the area for underground utilities like water, stormwater and sewerage lines, telephone or internet cables and overground for the power lines, electricity poles, sensitive religious structures and even trees. It will take a month’s time to complete the mapping,” said HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy on Wednesday.
The survey is through the ‘Lidar’ — Light detection and ranging, where the laser ranging system, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) is used with the help of machine put on ground. The plan is to build the elevated line alongside Musi river and centre of the road but it would also weave to the left or right depending on the study as cement-concrete structure of 2.5 metres X 2.5 metres will be built and foundation of 8 metres X 8 metres will be laid to support the super-structure on top, he explained.
The study will indicate what utilities are present and can be shifted and what should be bypassed. While the viaduct from MGBS to Darulshifa will be along the Musi river, the stretch from Darulshifa to Shalibanda need to be widened from the present about 60 ft to 80-100 ft to accommodate the viaduct as five stations are proposed to be built alongside as of now, he said.
L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) had completed the first phase of the metro rail project across three traffic corridors — Red Line from L.B. Nagar to Miyapur, Blue Line from Nagole to Raidurg and the Green Line from Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) upto MGBS of about 69.2 km. The last line was halted at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station due to “lack of permission” in taking the line into the Old City.
The public representatives opposed the construction then citing 1,000-odd religious and heritage structures along the route but now with citizens from the Old City are wondering why they were denied the benefit of the public transport project, and they want the work to start!
The Centre too has held back releasing the pending Viability Gap Funding (VGF) amount of ₹254 crore and it has released ₹1,204 crore of the total ₹1,458 crore (10% of the projected cost of ₹14,156 crore).
The Telangana State government has allotted ₹ 500 crore for the Old City work this year in the budget and another ₹1,500 crore for HMR. The current estimate is that it will cost up to ₹2,000 crore for taking up this work on contract for L&TMRH or any firm to do it. Yet, will the government’s financial position allow for the project to be taken up has to be watched because last year too ₹1,000 crore was allotted for the metro rail construction but no works were grounded
