On Tuesday, the Telangana Government extended the time till November 2018 for Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to complete the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.
As per the concession agreement signed in 2010, the project should have been completed by July 4, 2017. But it could not be completed due to the court cases in the acquisition of some critical properties. The Government agreed to give an extension of 17 months after the detailed technical presentation by the concessionaire.
While agreeing to this time extension, the interests of the government have been protected, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) Managing Director, N.V.S. Reddy said.
The concession agreement for the Rs. 14,132 crore project is said to be the largest metro project in the world which is a public private partnership. Though the agreement was signed in September 2010, the work could commence only in July 2012, L&T MRHL (Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited) officials had said earlier.
In 2011, the L&T MRHL had achieved financial closure for Rs. 16,375 crore – Rs. 14,132 crore for the metro rail system and Rs.2,243 crore for the first phase of real estate development.
