Its been seven years but the fate of the proposed Vizag Metro Rail Project is hanging in the air since the Andhra Pradesh state government is yet to submit a proposal to the Centre.
Replying to BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore on Monday said the AP government has not yet submitted a proposal for the project.
“The State was asked to submit a revised proposal in September 2017, but nothing has materialized so far,” Kaushal Kishore said in the Upper House.
In December 2015, the AP government had sent a proposal that said that the Rs 12,725 crore metro rail project with a network of 42.55 km was to be implemented as a fully government-funded model. It had 50:50 joint venture equity partnership between both the central and state governments.
But in October 2016, the AP government made a U-turn and altered the funding model to Public-Private Partnership (PPP). It laid two options: first, with a network of 34.44 km at a cost of Rs 9,736 crore, and second, a 42.54 km network, costing Rs 12,345 crore.
But four months later in January 2017, the state government put forward a plan to execute the project in PPP model at a cost of Rs 12,345 crore.
Kaushal Kishore said that even after the Centre requested the state government for the revised proposal, the state government did not submit it.
“The state government did not utilize the Central government’s offer of 20 percent grant under the viability gap funding scheme for PPP projects,” Kishore said.
The minister further explained that urban transport is an integral part of urban development. “Being a state subject, the formulation of proposals for metro rail projects with appropriate funding patterns, along with the preparation of a comprehensive mobility plan, alternative analysis report and detailed project report, were to be done by the respective State Governments,” said the minister.