Giving a big push to metro rail project, the State government has decided to release funds for acquiring land for the Amaravati Metro project. The government has to acquire land for constructing metro stations on Bandar and Eluru roads. About 40 cents is required for each station.
The metro project needs acquisition of 31 hectares in all, including government land of 1.5 hectares and private land of 29.44 hectares. Seventy seven families are likely to be affected and the cost of resettlement and rehabilitation is expected at Rs. 46.73 crore. In addition, the government would have to pay for the land acquisition, which is estimated to cost Rs. 750 crore.
The government has promised to release the amount in two spells. But, it did not materialise. At this juncture, Advisor to government on Metro rail E. Sreedharan and Amaravati Metro Corporation Managing Director Ramakrishna Reddy met Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu to discuss the issue. The Chief Minister has agreed to a proposal to spend Rs. 250 crore on land acquisition.
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The land acquisition process would be completed at the earliest to kick-start the works. The authorities are planning to launch work on Eluru Road and complete it by 2018. The DMRC has planned to construct two corridors in the city — Bandar and Eluru road. The Bandar Road corridor will be taken up at a later stage as soon as the depot works are completed. More so there are no land acquisition issues on Eluru Road compared to Bandar Road. The Eluru Road corridor is expected to be completed by 2018 while the Bandar Road by 2019. The depot would also be completed by 2018. The AMRC is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed to implement the project with the help from the consultants — the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The AMRC will be the owner and administrator of the Vijayawada Metro Rail project and the DMRC will be the executing agency of the project on a turnkey basis on behalf of the AMRC.