The Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation met with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday, to discuss alternative transportation proposals for the city of Vijayawada.
They proposed the use of Light Rail Technology (LRT), stating that this system was more flexible and profitable than the metro system.
"The LRT system, one of the most avant-garde technologies operating in Germany and France, allows for increasing the number of cars and hence, frequency, depending on the footfall, while the metro train system is more rigid," a press release from the Chief Minister's office said.
The Chief Minister has agreed to look at the design proposal of the LRT system in two days, and expressed his keenness in improving the connectivity of the city.
“Every person in the city must travel a maximum of 30 minutes to reach their regular destinations. The transportation system must be efficient and pollution-free," Naidu said.
He said that he will take the decision to proceed, after two more meetings, where further details would be discussed.
This comes after a long battle for the city, to gets its own metro rail.
In May this year, the Union finance ministry refused to approve the Rs 6,847 crore Vijayawada Metro Rail project that was proposed, stating that the Centre did not find it financially viable.
Earlier this week, a senior official of the Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC) told The Hindu that the "Vijayawada Metro would not be able to match the peak passengers-per-hour-per-direction (called ‘ridership’) requirement, which is minimum 20,000 in a single direction, for at least the next two-and-a-half decades."
Meanwhile, the state's Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana indirectly hinted that a Metro Rail system was not viable for Vijayawada, according to reports.