Accusing the Centre of going back on its promise to be a joint venture partner in the Hyderabad Metro Rail phase-2 project, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday said the state government was ready to take up the project with 100% equity without the Centre’s share.
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Speaking to reporters at the secretariat, the chief minister demanded that the Centre issue the no-objection certificate (NOC) for the phase-2 of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project to expedite the works.
Revanth Reddy said he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Ashwini Vaishnaw several times and urged them to approve the metro rail expansion project, which had already been delayed for years.
He said the Centre had agreed to sanction the Hyderabad Metro Rail phase-2 project with a 50% share of the total cost after L&T, the original concessionaire for phase-1, refused to take up phase-2 in view of mounting losses.
“The company created assets worth ₹30,000 crore but said it was incurring an annual loss of ₹400 crore,” he said, adding that the management had also refused to take up future operations and maintenance of the metro rail project.
The chief minister pointed out that on the advice of the Centre, the state government had taken over phase-1 of the project for around ₹15,000 crore. In order to clear L&T’s outstanding bank loans of ₹13,600 crore at an interest rate of 8.25%, the state government had secured a loan of ₹13,600 crore from a Japanese entity to be routed through Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) at an interest rate of 4%, he said.
Revanth Reddy alleged that the Centre had now refused to permit the transfer of the loan from IRFC to the state government.
“We have already paid ₹1,400 crore dues from us. We also submitted a letter confirming the Reserve Bank’s approval, yet the loan transfer was blocked,” he said.
The chief minister said the funds were due for release on Monday but there had been no clearance from the Centre so far. He alleged that Union minister for coal mines G Kishan Reddy had pressured the Centre to stall the release of the loan amount.
He pointed out that during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government, the Centre had approved loans worth ₹3,15,000 crore through Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Finance Corporation (RFC) without any guarantee at interest rates ranging from 9% to 15%.
“Why is the Centre stalling the attempt of the state government to secure a loan for the Hyderabad metro rail at a cheaper interest rate?” he asked.
Revanth Reddy alleged that the Centre had discriminated against Telangana while approving metro rail projects for Ahmedabad, Uttar Pradesh and Visakhapatnam.
“If the Centre is not willing to take up the Hyderabad metro rail project phase-2 with 50% equity, the state government will take it up on its own with 100% share. The Centre should give NOC for the same,” he demanded.
