Urban Transport Infrastructure November 2018 Urban Transport Infra November 2018 | Page 40

Interview Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase II is almost ready. It will be submitted soon for final approval from the Government. Mr. NVS Reddy, Managing Director, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (Photo: HMRL) With over 33 years of managerial and administrative experience, Mr. NVS Reddy held several senior Government positions. During his varied assignments, he contributed to systemic improvements in Indian Railways and won many awards. Presently as the Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, he is heading the mega Hyderabad Metro Rail project (72 km). Implementation of this project with an estimated cost of Rs.14,132 crore (USD 2.11 billion) under public-private partnership (PPP) with innovative financial engineering is his bold initiative in mass transit systems and infrastructure development. It is the world’s largest Metro rail project being implemented in PPP mode. Here are excerpts from his interview: What are the key concerns you faced while making the Metro what it is today? Mr. NVS Reddy: Every day there were agitations and we needed police protection and some of the debates where like?” (something missing here). When a religious group stopped us, the lower communities were the first ones who supported and stood by us. Surprisingly some engineers, unfortunately, supported this, to stall the project. Nobody can teach you to handle these kinds of situations. A religious structure would take 1 to 1.5 years. Bengaluru metro got stalled for 6 months due to the presence of the Ambedkar statue. But here in Hyderabad, HMRL was able to build that confidence among different caste and religious groups. Even today, people of Kukatpally express gratitude. My first victory was Kanchalamma temple near Nagole when the entire community stood by us. We had to negotiate about 30 religious structures. WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM You have time and again said that people with vested interests are trying to stall the project. Who are they and what were their vested interests? Mr. Reddy: I had to acquire 3,000 properties for this project, lawyers were going around, NGOs including all anarchists led by some big names tried to stall the project. I don’t want such troubles for my enemies. We had a lot of adverse reports. My effigy was burnt three times and my general manager had to touch the feet of a godman, to allow the project to continue. There were commercial interests behind the religious structures which we had to tackle. General Managers had to speak to the respective heads and convince them. Some people have the habit of creating problems by filing RTIs to stall the project even at this point. I would reveal one day when I retire on what transpired. There are properties where I got threatening calls. But I have to give due credit to the lower strata of society. 40 Mr. NVS Reddy is known for his financial acumen, engineering innovation, open minded approach and leadership qualities. He is an expert in Rail Transportation & Power sectors, Finance, Urban Transportation, Urban Governance, Project Structuring, Project Management and PPPs. He has been associated with implementation of many important projects including the mega Konkan Rail project on the west coast of India. He has varied interests and lectures on a variety of topics in prestigious engineering and management institutes/fora in India and abroad. Urban Transport Infrastructure | November 2018