Center’s key announcement on Visakha Metro project

The central government has made a key announcement on the Visakhapatnam metro project. To this extent, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Kaushal Kishore answered the questions asked by YSR Congress MPs MVV Satyanarayana and Dr. B. Venkata Satyavati in the Lok Sabha. He clarified that no proposals have been received from the Andhra Pradesh government for the construction of the Visakhapatnam metro project. In 2018, with a length of 42.55 km, Rs. He said that proposals have come from the AP government only for the “Light Metro Rail Project” with an estimated cost of 8,300 crores. However, with a length of 75.3 km, Rs. He said that no proposals have been received for the Visakha Metro project with an estimated cost of 15,993 crores.

The Union Minister revealed that the Center tried to provide financial assistance to the ‘Korean Exim Bank’ under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) system. However, the bank refused to provide financial assistance after examining the project.

Union Minister Kaushal said that the preparation of metro rail projects, comprehensive transport plans, alternative analysis reports and DPRs will be completely under the jurisdiction of the states. He said that the center will study the proposals and feasibility of the state governments and provide financial assistance as much as possible depending on the availability of resources. He said that besides Visakhapatnam, the Center has funded the design of ‘Comprehensive Mobility Plan’ for 9 other cities of AP (Eluru, Kakinada, Nellore, Ongole, Rajahmundry, Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool). Also, for the formulation of ‘Non-Motorized Transport Integration Plan’ and ‘Integrated Public Transport Plan’ for Vijayawada Metro Rail, the Center has allocated Rs. Union Minister Kaushal Kishore reminded that 78.44 lakhs had been given.