Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today said the state government will go ahead with further expansion of the metro rail corridor in Hyderabad even if Centre does not extend its support.

The chief minister today laid the foundation stone for the 31 km long Airport Express Metro Project which would connect the IT Hub with the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamsabad. The state government will fund the entire project which will require about Rs 6250 crore. Speaking at a gathering at Telangana State Police Academy grounds in Rajendranagar afterwards Rao pointed out that the Metro was the only way to avoid pollution and traffic congestion in a fast growing city like Hyderabad. He said: “There is a need to connect BHEL to this Metro and also the Outer Ring Road and around Hyderabad too. Whether or not we have the support of the Centre we will create these facilities on our own in future.” He also promised to extend financial support to strengthen the city’s civic infrastructure.

It may be pointed out that the state government has already sought central funds for extending the metro rail connectivity between BHEL and Lakdikapul and from Nagole to L B Nagar stretch in Phase II. The first phase was built on public private partnership basis.

Recalling Hyderabad’s past glory the chief minister outlined the advantages of the city, its pleasant weather and it is not an earthquake prone zone. He pointed out the city suffered due to the poor planning and lack of vision of Andhra rulers when it served as the capital of the unified state.

He claimed that Hyderabad was so well integrated with power generating stations, state and national electricity grids that the city has become a “power island” and “there may be power outages in New York, London and Paris but never in Hyderabad.”

Today HMDA and GMR officials presented cheques of Rs625 crore each to the chief minister as part of the 10 per cent share of project cost for the Airport Express Metro. A special purpose vehicle – Hyderabad Airport Metro Limited (HAML) has been set up with Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) and Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) as equity partners in order to execute the Airport Express Metro project. Once completed, it will take only 26 minutes to reach the airport from the city.