Hyderabad: The 72-km Hyderabad Metro Rail project—the second biggest in Asia after the Shanghai Metro—is likely to be delayed.
Bidding for the Rs 10,000-crore project were to be finished by July 4, but not one of the five consortiums applied. Work was supposed to begin in August but that is unlikely now.
Metro rail authorities, however, are confident that financial bids will come in by the month end. "After resolving all the issues, they have gone back to their boards. All these people would like to get their boards' final order. They said project of this magnitude requires at least four months time. So we have postponed," said N V S Reddy, managing director of Hyderabad Metro Rail.
The five consortiums include: Essar, Seimens, Bombardier, GVK and Maytas. Sources say the consortiums may have decided to defer their bids due to inflationary concerns. The project was initially estimated to cost around Rs 8500 crore but has now escalated to almost Rs 10,000 crore.
However, a top official of GVK confirmed that they are ready with their bid. The proposed metro rail will operate in three routes covering 63 stations. Hyderabad Metro Rail officials assure that the project is on track, but sources say land acquisition is far from over.
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