H’yana govt must step in for expansion, says Gurgaon Rapid Metro

Gurgaon’s privately-owned Rapid Metro, which recently completed its first year of operation and is spreading its wings further into the city, has said that the intervention of the new Haryana government is imperative to expand such infrastructure projects.

The Union government has shown keen interest in public-private partnership (PPP) in various sectors despite it not working out in favour of the Delhi Airport Metro Express with Reliance Infrastructure.

‘The PPP model worked but they were not satisfied with it. The IL&FS rail is only in the business of PPP projects. But these projects require a good 40 per cent support from the government, otherwise these projects cannot be made feasible.

‘I think the new state government has to understand this that they may promote a lot of PPP projects but unless these are financially feasible, nobody is going to bid for those projects,’ said Sanjiv Rai, CEO & MD of Rapid Metro Gurgaon.

Noting that the previous Congress-led government of Bhupinder Singh Hooda was very supportive of the project, he said the new Manohar Lal Khattar government will take time to settle down and then this dialogue would be taken forward with the senior officers of the state.