L& T keen to complete Metro Rail project, asserts Gadgil

HYDERABAD: L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail managing director and CEO Vivek B Gadgil said L&T was committed to expediting the construction of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR).

Speaking to reporters after meeting Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, he made light of a letter published in a couple of vernacular newspapers on Metro Rail project's feasibility.

'We are working closely with the government and want to expedite the project with the support of government, people and media,' Gadgil said.

Asked about the letter stating that L&T had decided to pull out of HMR, Gadgil said the letter published by the newspapers was written to the Chief Minister of combined AP in February 2014. He said that L&T had also written another letter in September.

'Writing a letter is not a crime. In a big project like HMR, regular correspondence is a routine affair. We may write thousands of letters. But, a section of the media chose to run selective disclosure of the old letter,' Gadgil said.

Asked whether the contents in the February letter were still valid, Gadgil replied that in continuation of the letter, they had written another letter earlier this month.

Though Gadgil said publishing of the letter showed the partners (L&T and government) in a poor light, he released copies of the same letter Wednesday to all the media representatives at the press meet.

'We have one of the options, to pull out of the Metro Rail,' Gadgil said and added that during the execution of a big project several issues would crop up and they would be resolved amicably with the government.

No info on alignment

Asked about the view of L&T on the change of Metro Rail alignment at Sultan Bazar and Assembly, Gadgil said that they had so far no official communication in this regard. 'The government asked us to stop works at two places. We have stopped the works. Once we received official communication on change of alignment then L&T will respond,' Gadgil said.

Asked whether the Hyderabad Metro rail was commercially viable in the wake of division of the State, Gadgil said it would be known only after the execution of the project.

L&T BID TO COOL FRAYED TEMPERS

L&T Metro Rail said there has been a great deal of cooperation from officials of government of Telangana under the leadership of the Chief Minister.

Issues which are likely to delay the project in any manner are being tracked at regular intervals at the highest level to make sure the momentum is not lost. In a statement, L&T Metro Rail said it would not be out of place to mention that the progress so far is the fastest in the Metro sector in the country in spite of challenges.