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Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has written to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal, requesting to approve the Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-II expansion and accelerate the process to enable the state government to take over Metro Phase-I.
He urged the Union government to speed up the assignment of the valuation of Metro Phase-I to SBICAPS, to facilitate the takeover and also examine the financial structure for Phase-II.
SBICAPS is the nodal agency appointed by the Union government to conduct a comprehensive study on the valuation of Hyderabad Metro Phase-I assets, the refinancing of high-interest loans, and the mobilisation of long-term financial resources required for the Phase-II expansion.
He also wrote to G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Coal and Mines and BJP leader from Telangana, on the issue. Revanth Reddy had recently blamed Kishan Reddy for allegedly stalling the release of funds as it would harm the BJP’s interests in Telangana.
Telangana government had earlier requested the Union government to release a sum of Rs 13,600 crore towards term loan refinancing for the Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-I, acquired by them from Larsen & Toubro Limited.
In his letters, the Chief Minister recalled key decisions made during high-level meetings held with them on June 23 and 24. He highlighted the agreement reached during those meetings to appoint SBICAPS.
While expressing concern over the delay in officially assigning the responsibilities to SBICAPS and finalising the Terms of Reference (ToR), he said that the delay is causing daily operational difficulties and uncertainty for Hyderabad Metro Phase-I. It also led to stalling of the approval of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and the process of mobilising funds for Phase-II. He warned that the project's implementation could be further delayed because of this and costs could rise significantly.
He emphasised that the Metro Phase-II expansion was crucial for Hyderabad's future public transport needs. Revanth Reddy urged the two Union Ministers to personally intervene and immediately complete the appointment process for SBICAPS.
