News Brief
APMRCL Board To Decide On Packaging Of Vizag And Vijayawada Metro Projects On 19 Sept
Illustrative representation of a Vizag metro station. (APMRCL)
The Andhra Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Limited (APMRCL) is set to convene its board meeting on 19 September to deliberate on the metro projects planned for Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.
According to a The Hindu report, the board may take a final call on whether to split the projects into multiple packages to encourage broader participation from contractors.
Initially, the two projects were to be bundled together and handed to a single contractor. However, bidders have pressed the corporation to consider breaking them up into smaller packages.
The last date for submitting tenders for the Visakhapatnam Metro has already been extended to 7 October.
“On September 19, the board members will discuss the issues related to the two metro projects. In the last pre-bid consultation meeting, 13 contractors from across the country participated. There are expert contractors to build metro projects in the country. At present, about 990-km of metro rail projects are operational, while 900-km of metro lines are under construction. We will start the Phase-1 of the Visakhapatnam Metro Rail first,” an APMRCL official was quoted as saying in the report.
The double-decker section, costing Rs 2,000 crore, will combine a flyover for motor traffic on the first level and metro tracks on the second, both supported on single piers. Land acquisition, involving around 99.75 acres, is expected to cost nearly Rs 882 crore.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has expressed interest in financing 60 per cent of the Vizag project, with the balance to be shared by the state and central governments.
