Accusing the Center of going back on its promise to be a joint venture partner in the Hyderabad Metro 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.
Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat, the Prime Minister requested the Center to issue a no-objection certificate for the second phase of the Hyderabad Metro project to expedite the works.
Revanth Reddy said he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Ashwini Vaishnau several times and urged them to approve the metro rail expansion project, which was already delayed for years.
He said the Center agreed to sanction the Hyderabad Metro Phase 2 project with a 50% share of the total cost after L&T, the original concessionaire of the first phase, refused to accept the second phase in view of mounting losses.
“The company has created valuable assets $30,000 crore but said it was incurring an annual loss of Rs 30,000 crore $“Rs 400 crore,” he said, adding that the administration had also refused to take up future operations and maintenance of the Metro Rail project.
The Chief Minister noted that on the advice of the Centre, the state government took up the first phase of the project for about $15,000 Crores. In order to liquidate the bank loans owed to L&T $13,600 crore at an interest rate of 8.25%, the state government obtained a loan of $Rs 13,600 crore will be routed from a Japanese entity through the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) at an interest rate of 4%, he said.
Revanth Reddy alleged that the Center has now refused to allow transfer of the loan from IRFC to the state government.
“We’ve already paid $1,400 crore dues from us. “We also submitted a letter confirming the Reserve Bank’s approval, but the loan transfer was blocked,” he added.
The money was scheduled to be released on Monday, but there has been no approval from the Center yet, the Prime Minister said. He alleged that Union Coal Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy pressured the Center to stop the release of the loan amount.
He pointed out that during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samiti government, the Center 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 Center stalling the state government’s attempt to get a loan for Hyderabad Metro Railway at a cheaper interest rate?” he asked.
Revanth Reddy alleged that the Center discriminated against Telangana while approving metro rail projects in Ahmedabad, Uttar Pradesh and Visakhapatnam.
“If the Center is not willing to take over the second phase of the Hyderabad Metro project with 50% equity, the state government will take up the project alone with 100% equity. The Center should give the NOC in return,” he demanded.
