Govt signs MoU with Maytas for Rs 12,132 rail project

Hyderabad, Sep 19: Government on Friday, Sep 19 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Maytas Metro Limited for the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project at an estimated cost of Rs 12,132 crore.

Talking to newspersons here, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said the project was expected to start in 2012.

Describing the agreement ''best in the world,'' Dr Reddy said the financial structure of the project was innovatively done in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode under Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.

Metro rail projects were normally built by governments all over the world by spending huge amounts of Government resources, he added.

''Appreciating the model, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia have urged other states to follow suit,'' he pointed out.

The Chief Miister said ''The developer is not only taking any grant from the government, but agreed to pay the state Rs 30,311 crore over the concession period of 35 years before transfering the metro rail back to the State,'' he said.

Maytas Metro Managing Director B Teja Raju, who signed the agreement with Municipal Administration Principal Secretary C V S K Sarma, said the project would be grounded in five months and completed in four years.

The agreement provided a fare structure, consisting of a minimum fare of Rs eight and a maximum fare of Rs 19, and allowed the concessionaire to develop real estates in three depots and 33 railway stations, covering 269 acres.

UNI