Malls & Multiplexes of L&T Metro Rail

CR’s comment: Only three malls now. More to follow. We have been saying this before. It’s like building irrigation canals even before the dam work begins (eg. Polavaram under YSR regime in AP). The very definition of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) is “Rail and Real Estate” as per the Concession Agreement. Already the govt of AP has allocated nearly 70 acres more of land that what is promised in the Agreement. What more you need?

Panjagutta is already a congested junction by all means. It is also a heavy pedestrian area but there are no footpaths. Now the L&T malls will further choke this area. Where is the transport planning here? It’s all real estate, my dear friends! Metro rail is only a mask. Pursuing this kind of development model led by contractors and companies (thru our political parties – with no difference in Regions and Ideologies) is what has pushed Andhra Pradesh into the present crisis (on division, unified AP).

L&T plans 3 malls-cum-multiplexes along metro rail corridors in city

Koride Mahesh| TOI, 28 Aug 2013, Hyderabad.

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Times view: The Khairatabad to Ameerpet Road is already chock-a-block with multiplexes and shopping malls and adding more new ones will only add to the chaotic scenes prevailing in the streets. Plans to construct malls and multiplexes in the areas mentioned are also illogical, as there are several screens within a few kilometres, especially in Punjagutta. Instead of spending crores of rupees on multiplexes, authorities should invest more on traffic management by building flyovers and sidewalks for pedestrians. 

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Hyderabad: Even before the metro rail tracks are put in place, project developer Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has started moves to commercially exploit parcels of land allotted to it along the three metro corridors. The project developer has proposed to construct malls with multiplexes at Punjagutta, Erramanzil and Madhapur. The L&T has applied for provisional no objection certificate (NOC) from the state disaster response and fire services department recently. Once the NOCs are obtained, the construction giant might seek building permission from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
Official sources said a mall, including a multiplex and office space, is being planned on 70,127 square metres land, where government quarters were demolished near Srinagar junction on the arterial Punjagutta-Ameerpet road. The land was handed over to the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) last year. At Punjagutta, the mall and multiplex would come up in one block, which would have three basements, ground and five upper floors.
L&T plans to build hotels, malls 
Hyderabad: Eight screens will come up on fourth and fifth floors. An office block is being planned in an area of 5,621 sq metres with three basements, ground and six upper floors. Another multiplex has been proposed at Erramanzil, near NIMS, where government quarters were razed for the metro rail project. L&T proposes to put up a mall, including a six-screen multiplex, and another multiplex and commercial building would come up opposite My Home Hub at Madhapur. “We have inspected the sites on the request of L&T metro rail and recommended provisional NOCs for malls,” regional fire officer P Venkata Ramana told TOI.
    As per the concessionaire agreement, the metro project developer could exploit space up to 18.5 million square feet (sft). Nearly, 12.5 million sft would be required for metro rail depots and terminal locations, while six million sft would be available for metro rail stations. HMR has agreed to transfer 269 acres land to the metro rail developer for executing the project. Of the total land, nearly 70% of the space was allocated to the three depots and 57 acres of land at 66 metro stations (air space) would be utilized for commercial exploitation.
    L&T, which is eyeing transit oriented development along the metro corridors, is likely to come up similar proposals for office spaces, malls and multiplexes apart from hotels, service apartments, healthcare facilities like hospitals, poly clinics, convention centres, theme parks, entertainment zones and convenience retail at suitable places.
    Meanwhile, both the fire services department and L&T have not yet finalized fire safety plan at metro stations. The fire department has offered to depute its senior officials for overseeing fire safety measures at stations, but L&T wants to have its own trained personnel. “In Delhi Metro, fire officials were deputed to train staff and ensure safety at all metro stations, but L&T wants to have its own set up,” a senior official of the fire services department said.

Hyderabad Metro will be doomed after AP's division

Hyderabad metro will be doomed after the state's division. Because, it is designed on false projections and lies. It is aimed at giving more lands to the private party for real estate development. It is premised on extracting more and more concessions  from the state govt. It will become a huge millstone (gudibanda in Telugu) around the neck of the new T state. I will post a more elaborate write-up later. Now the news item in TOI.- CR

Division of Andhra may hit ridership on metro rail

Koride Mahesh, TNN | Aug 4, 2013.  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Division-of-Andhra-may-hit-ridership-on-metro-rail/articleshow/21587177.cms

HYDERABAD: Will there be any impact on metro rail ridership if the state is bifurcated? The answer is yes. Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) officials fear it might impact the projected ridership for the metro rail, which in turn might hit its fare box collection. Apart from this, the impact is also likely to hit transit-oriented development and advertising revenue of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad). When the metro rail was designed a few years ago, the officials estimated ridership could be 15 lakh per day by 2015 and might touch 22 lakh per day by 2025. The officials arrived at the figure by taking volume of traffic, population and number of vehicles and their growth per year into consideration. Bidders had also taken these figures into consideration while quoting their bid amount for bagging the contract during the bidding process.

However, analysts claim the projected figure might change if the state is divided as growth of the city, floating population, vehicular traffic and other figures might not be relevant as development might slow down. "Several traffic studies of Hyderabad reveal that every year two lakh personal vehicles were being added to the roads in the city. The total motorized trips are 35 lakh per day, including 61% two-wheelers, 21% autos, 15% cars and 3% buses. Now, new vehicles and passenger trips will be less in the separate state," an official of the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department said.

Infrastructure giant L&T had bagged the metro rail project in 2010 with an approved cost of Rs 14,132 crore. The rail project is being implemented on three corridors - Miyapur-LB Nagar, Jubilee Bus Station-Falaknuma and Nagole-Shilparamam - covering a distance of 72 kms. The first two stretches might be ready by December 2014 and commercial operations are likely to begin in June 2015. The entire 72-km stretch is expected to be completed by July 2016. The concession period for the project is 35 years, which includes five-year construction period, and could be extended by another 25 years.

Interestingly, the DMRC had prepared a detailed project report for the metro rail project eight years ago and estimated the traffic to be around 40,000 passengers per hour in peak direction (PPHPD). However, the HMRL officials revised it to 60,000 PPHPD as there was growth of traffic in the city. Initially, the metro train would have three-car trains carrying 1,000 passengers each and later it would be six-car trains for 6,000 passengers. The HMR has already announced frequency of the trains to be 3 to 5 minutes during peak hours keeping in view of the likely ridership.

"The L&T can ask the state government to increase passenger fare (freezed minimum fare of Rs 8) or seek more concession period to reach their estimated revenues," another official said.W hen contacted for comments on the likely impact, Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) managing director NVS Reddy refused to comment on the issue.

Hyderabad needs a directly elected Executive Mayor

My piece in the Times of India today (28 June) on the need to have a directly elected mayor with executive powers for Hyderabad. A group of us had a brainstorming session on this in the past and held a press meet also before the Corporation elections. As there was a constraint on the word limit, I could not elaborate on some issues. But the spirit is there. - CR
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Hyderabad has emerged as a city of national and global importance and has been contributing immensely to economic growth, employment generation and providing livelihoods for vast sections of people. It is therefore imperative that cities like this are governed well so as to provide high quality civic services like in other cities in developed countries. What we need is an effective and good city government headed by a directly elected executive mayor with a strong political commitment, orientation towards reform in administrative and financial aspects and who is accountable to citizens.

In the present set up, there is no leader the citizens can look up to. The Water Board is headed by the chief minister who has no time for it. Its day-to-day affairs are looked after by a civil servant. Nobody knows who the board members are and when it meets (if it meets at all). Whether it is highly iniquitous supply, poor quality or irregular timings, the citizens have to run from pillar to post. Take illegal constructions. The building regularization scheme (BRS), which when implemented some years ago was supposed to be a one-time measure, was later 'revised' into a building penalization scheme (BPS), thus ensuring that the illegal activity continues.
Water bodies continue to shrink and vanish despite new laws. Less said the better about the high profile metro rail project. Lands are being allocated to L&T beyond the scope of and much more than what is listed in the concession agreement, alignments are altered, heritage buildings affected etc, but there is nobody to answer. Meanwhile, its promoters are on a brand-building bandwagon spreading half-truths (and some untruths) to the people. For instance, the project is known to have got an international award for best design while the fact is that the designs are not yet finalized for several crucial junctions/routes. All that the citizens have is an accounts officer heading the project who is not accountable to the public at all. The quality of public transportation continues to decline with no 'father' for the APSRTC to claim its rightful place in the city.

All these factors are having a debilitating effect on the quality of civic life. The citizens have to build up pressure on the government and the political parties with a long term goal of far reaching changes in the way the city is governed. The civil society has an important role to play in this task. The long term goals should be: 1. Direct elections to the mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation; 2. Making the mayor an executive mayor with adequate powers; 3. Giving effective administrative and financial powers to the city government; 4. Making all the service providing agencies in the city accountable to the city government (eg. public transport, water supply & sewage, fire safety, environment etc., to mention only a few).

Several experts in the field of urban governance in Hyderabad have deliberated on these issues in the past. The city cannot be governed in the same old ways if the situation has to be improved drastically.

Metro MD misleads the people of Telangana with job reservation

Misleading the people of Telangana by lying. Hyderabad metro MD promises that 40k jobs (out of 50k that would be generated) would be reserved for Telanganites. Can he do that? One official says: "In reality, the number of employees required ... is around 20,000. The inflated number being assured by the metro rail authorities can later lead to unrest among the local people apart from misleading the public." It is a PPP project and the metro MD will have no say in recruitment. 

- CR
Metro rail MD in bind over jobs for T youth

May 9, 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Metro-rail-MD-in-bind-over-jobs-for-T-youth/articleshow/19959985.cms

HYDERABAD: A TRS-TJAC delegation on Wednesday called on Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL) authorities and demanded that 80% of the jobs that the project will generate should be reserved for people from Telangana. According to sources, when a delegation met HMRL managing director NVS Reddy, he assured that the demand would be fulfilled. Reddy told them that the project would generate about 50,000 direct and indirect jobs. and that they would not have any hesitation in reserving 80% of it for the people of Telangana

The delegation that met NVS Reddy included TRS Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao, politburo member Sravan Kumar Dasoju and MLCsSwamy Goud and Mahmood Ali besides TJAC leaders Srinivas Goud and Addanki Dayakar. The team reminded the metro rail officials of the AP Public Employment (Organization of Local Cadre and Regulation Direct Recruitment Order- 1975) Act, also known as Presidential Order 1975, which reserves 80% of government jobs to locals. "We explained the provision of the Act and also warned of an agitation in case our demand is not met. Responding positively to our demand, NVS Reddy said that of the total estimated 50,000 jobs, 40,000 would be reserved for locals."

However, according to a senior official in the municipal administration department, the TRS delegation approached the wrong party in seeking an assurance on job reservation as the Hyderabad Metro Rail authorities have no say in the matter. "The metro rail project is an infrastructure project being executed under public private partnership (PPP), and Larsen & Toubro is the concessionaire for the project. HMRL has no role in the recruitment because L&T has given the operation and maintenance (O&M) contract to Keolis, a France-based public transport operator, which would hire people in consultation with the concessionaire," said the official.

According to the official, HMRL has got it wrong with regard to the number of jobs that the project is expected to generate. "In reality, the number of employees required , including construction and operation, is around 20,000. The inflated number being assured by the metro rail authorities can later lead to unrest among the local people apart from misleading the public," said the official.

L&T's 'Goodwill Gesture' to Hyderabad Journalists

Project and Publicity. Quid pro Quo? Or What else? A big construction firm, L&T, is 'helping' in the design and supervision of constructing a swanky building as a 'goodwill gesture' for the Hyderabad Press Club in Somajiguda. You may wonder why the L&T has developed so much love for the media. It is building Hyderabad metro rail (HMR) which is mired in many controversies. It may also be noted that L&T and HMR organised a lavish party recently for the journalists in a place on the outskirts of the city (We published it on our blog.) What else could be the motive if not getting favourable publicity? Read the news item below.

Row over L&T gesture, Times of India, Hyderabad, Apr 29, 2013. 

HYDERABAD: Plans to build a swankier press club at Somajiguda had run into controversy with several members of the club objecting to the decision, which they say, has been taken by the management without taking majority of journalists into confidence. The new club's design, comprising three floors, a centralised kitchen, a convention centre, a press conference hall and two restaurants, has been planned by construction firm Larsen and Toubro(L&T). While club authorities said that the total cost would be around Rs 4-5 crore, they clarified that the construction major is helping the club in executing the project as a 'goodwill gesture'. During an emergency general body meeting held on Sunday at the club to discuss the plans, members raised questions on the involvement of L&T in the project. Last week, L&T engineers gave a power point presentation on the design of the new building to a selected few members, which did not go down well with the remaining.

Larsen & Toubro is building the metro rail project in Hyderabad at an estimated cost of Rs 14,132 crore. The project has been dogged with inordinate delay and there has been numerous complaints on allotment of prime land at dirt cheap rates. A case has been filed against the project by traders of Ameerpet, saying that the alignment of the project has been changed unilaterally, violating the detailed project report.

L&T has not been able to make inroads into the Sultan Bazaar area due to resistance from locals. "There is no doubt that the metro project has given L&T negative branding and I am sure they would do anything that could boost their image in Hyderabad," an analyst said.

For more, go to the link:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Row-over-LT-gesture/articleshow/19775384.cms

At the AAG Conference

In the lobby of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles.

Critically analysing the Hyd Metro project in an international conference

I will be presenting my paper "Elevated Metro Rail and Undoing the City - Social Activism against a PPP Project in Hyderabad" in the Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers in Los Angeles, USA during 9-13 April. It is the largest gathering of geographers in the world. About 7000 scholars from the discipline of Geography and other related fields will participate in the conference.

I will also be a panel speaker in a special session in honour of Prof. Neil Smith, a well-known leftist geographer, who passed away recently at the City University of New York. The session title is: "Geography Towards Revolution for Neil Smith - Part V: Radical Geography Roundtable Discussion". I will also focus on the metro project, the concession agreement, real estate, lack of transparency, the High Court Order etc. in this special session also.

- C.R