Gurgaon metro snippets

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda laid the foundation stone of the Gurgaon Metro Rail in DLF Phase III at a public event on Tuesday. The Haryana government awarded the construction of the mass transport system in Gurgaon to a consortium of DLF and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) last month. This is the first time a private company will build and operate a public transport system in the country.
A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been formed to construct and operate the system. The entire project is estimated to cost Rs 900 crore, which will be raised partly through loans and the rest by equity. A DLF spokesperson said the SPV would raise Rs 700 crore within the next six months. The mode of fund-raising will be decided in due course of time. The Gurgaon Metro Rail will run on an 8.5-metre high elevated track and will span 6.1 km. There will be six stations: Sikandarpur, DLF Phase-II, Belvedere Tower, DLF Phase-III, Gateway Tower and Mall of India. Haryana has awarded the concession for a period of 99 years to build and operate the Metro system. DLF Metro will hold 26 per cent share, while 74 percent stake will be held by IL&FS. The project is to be completed by mid-2012, Hooda said. On fund-raising plans for the pro ject, DLF Vice-Chairman Rajiv Singh said, "IL&FS has the mandate to raise the total loan amount. In today's market scenario, it is a little difficult, but IL&FS is confident of raising the money in the next few months." DLF would also contribute its share of equity, apart from other logistic support, Singh added. Regarding the future expansion of the project, Singh said, "We are anticipating that in the long term, the project has the potential of being increased by another 20 km with an investment of around Rs 2,000 to 3,000 crore."
While DLF Metro would retain all revenues generated from sale of tickets, all non-ticketing income would be shared with Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) as per a predesignated arrangement. For the first five years, the company would contribute five per cent of the revenue to HUDA, while for every subsequent five years, it will be increased by one per cent till it reaches 10 per cent."We will also have a revenue sharing arrangement with the DMRC," Singh added. The Metro route will connect with the Delhi Metro at Sikandarpur and act as a feeder for the Central Secretariat-Gurgaon line of the Delhi Metro, DLF said.

DLF-IL&FS set to bag Gurgaon Metro project

A Consortium comprising Infrastructure Leasing Financial Services (IL&FS) group and DLF is all set to bag the first privately operated metro line project in Haryana. The consortium was the sole bidder for the line that would come up in Gurgaon at a cost of about Rs 1,000 crore.IL&FS group company ITNL Enso Rail Systems (IERS), together with affiliates, holds 74 per cent while the remaining 26 per cent being held by DLF.
The consortium submitted an offer to Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) for taking up the project on a build-and-operate basis. The bidding closed on Wednesday.Once clearances from the state and Union governments are in place, the consortium would get to operate the system for 99 years. IERS managing director and chief executive officer Sanjiv Rai said the Metro Rail Gurgaon system, a 3.2km alignment, would provide a link to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Sikanderpur station in Gurgaon. DMRC is constructing a metro link to Gurgaon from Delhi.
Rai said the consortium would be paying a portion of the non-tariff revenue to Huda. The non-tariff revenue would come through lease rentals of commercial space and advertising along the line. He did not give details on the sharing of revenue citing confidentiality terms.The link, which will come up in an area that has commercial and residential properties developed by DLF, will reduce the travel time to and from the DLF Cyber City region to Sikanderpur. The system has six stations on the alignment. “The system will utilise the best available rail technology with optimal safety, reliability and will be environmentally sustainable,” Rai added.
In addition to IL&FS, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Infrastructure had initially shown interest in the project but they did not put in bids. A Reliance Infrastructure executive said, “The Metro system was too small compared to the kind of operations we want to get into.” On the cost of construction, Rai said since the stretch is small, the consortium would not be able to take benefit of economies of scale in construction. Similar privately operated Metro rail systems have been planned in Mumbai and Delhi. Reliance Infrastructure is implementing the projects in the two cities. While the 15-km stretch in Mumbai is estimated to cost Rs 2,600 crore, Delhi’s airport link across 25 km is estimated to cost Rs 2,500 crore.