Hyderabad, July 13: A Crucial meeting on the future of the Metro Rail is going to take place tomorrow under the chairmanship of Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. The State Government will see whether the project can be put back on track and the meet is expected to throw up some answers.
It may be recalled that the chief minister had last week ordered the cancellation of the contract with Maytas and its associates as the latter had failed to fulfil stipulations of the project.
However, he has categorically stated that the project would be completed by 2014 at any cost.
According to officials, the meeting will discuss the possibility of asking the second successful bidder to take up the project or for calling fresh bids.
There are other consortia which had made strong bids last year: Essar Constructions (India) Ltd, SREI, Singapore MRT, SEC and STE; Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd, Magna Allmore of Malyasia, Siemens AG of Germany and Emirates Trading Agency of Dubai; Reliance Energy Ltd and Bombardier Transportation GmbH of Canada; and the GVK Group, Gammon, Alstom Corp. of France and IDFC Ltd.
The GVK-led consortium had backed out during bidding, but the other consortia could now get a look-in. These groups had asked the government for some more concessions.
It is reported the Reliance-led consortium is still interested.
Should the government call fresh bids, finalising them would be a timeconsuming exercise. After this, more time would be taken up surveying routes sought by the succesful bidder.
All this would consume at least two years, meaning that the project might not be grounded till July or August 2011.
Given that the construction part would take at least three years, a 2014 deadline would presuppose that everything would proceed without the slightest hitch.
Tomorrow’s meeting will thrash out all the issues that need to be deliberated on to ensure successful and timely completion of the project.
–Agencies–