L&T has taken a decision to withdraw from the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project Limited (HMRL). It announced its decision in a statement on Thursday. L&T, which had demanded Rs 5,900 crore from the government to withdraw from the first phase of the Hyderabad Metro, took a debt of Rs 13,000 crore and agreed to withdraw from it by taking only Rs 2,000 crore as part of the negotiations, surprising the industry community.
The Revanth Reddy-led state government has decided to take over the first phase of the metro as part of expanding the metro rail services in Hyderabad. To this end, CM Revanth Reddy held key discussions with representatives of L&T company.
Generally, private companies try to get more rupees from the government than they expect. But industry groups are analyzing that there are strong reasons behind the company’s decision to withdraw from the Metro by settling for only a third of what was demanded and breaking the bond of about two decades.
Finally, L&T, which pushed through even during the difficult times of Covid 19, is saying that the key developments that took place after the Congress government came to power are the reason for them to say that they cannot do it here anymore.
The Hyderabad Metro has a reputation as the largest public-private partnership metro project in Asia. But now its reputation has suddenly faded. L&T, which made the metro rail available in 2017, has been saying from the beginning that the commercial plans (leasing land and commercial development) did not come together as expected.
During the KCR regime, the government has been in constant contact with L&T and has been cooperating with them to the extent possible in their practical difficulties. That is why L&T pushed the metro project forward even in difficult situations like Covid 19.
But many believe that taking a decision to completely withdraw from the project at a time when the number of passengers has been increasing day by day and has reached five lakhs per day, along with expansion projects, is not an optimistic matter. After the Congress government came to power, the company did not see any optimistic situation.
There has been a long-standing debate in industry circles that the Revanth Reddy government could not digest the way it was being treated by a faction.
