AMRC likely to issue fresh consultancy tenders for Visakhapatnam Metro

Visakhapatnam (Urban Transport News): The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to make changes in proposed alignments of Visakhapatnam Metro Rail project and want to double the length of the metro rail network in the city to provide maximum connectivity. As the existing plan is going to change, the existing tenders will be scrapped and fresh tenders will be floated to prepare a revised detailed project report (DPR) of the Visakhapatnam Metro Rail project.

In response to the earlier request for proposal (RfP), five bidders were shortlisted and they had submitted their quotations in the first quarter of this year. The names of these shortlisted bidders are Adani Enterprises Limited, TRIL Urban Transport Private Limited, Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Private Limited, ESSEL Infraprojects Limited, and IL&FS Rail Limited.

According to previous detailed project report (DPR), the Vizag Metro rail project will have three corridors covering a total length of the metro rail network of 42.55 km. The three corridors include Kommadi junction - Gajuwaka (30.8 km), Old Post Office Junction - Gurudwara junction (5.25 km), and Thatichetlapalem - China Waltair (6.91 km). To cover more areas and provide metro rail connectivity to people, the state government is planning to extend the project to the proposed Bhogapuram international airport on the north-east side of the city, instead of limiting it at Kommadi.

The project will likely be extended till Vizag Steel Plant On the south-east side, instead of ending it to Gajuwaka. After revising the plan, the project cost would almost double as the total metro network length of the project would now be above 80 km from the earlier 42.5 km stretch. Speaking to press reporters, M V V Satyanarayana, Member of Parliament from Visakhapatnam, said that the state government is planning to extend the project to Bhogapuram airport and Vizag Steel Plant.

The government will also likely go for a retendering process. Based on the anticipation of future stress points and projection of traffic growth trajectory, the metro rail project is the need of the hour. It will change the face of the city.

But the government may face trouble in arranging funds for the Vizag Metro Rail project because recently, Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), which had earlier shown the interest in funding the nearly Rs 8,300 crore project, walked out from the project. Experts say that providing rapid and efficient public transit access to the proposed Bhogapuram international airport is a key ingredient of the mobility plan of Visakhapatanam city as no other mode of transport can fulfill to the capacity of trains in terms of the number of passengers.