Sachin Sharma, 43, often commutes to his office at Cyber City within the Rapid Metro. He has been boarding the practice at Sector 54 Chowk metro station and alighting at IndusInd Bank Cyber City as a each day routine for the previous one 12 months. But he’s a fearful man now with uncertainty looming giant over the continuity of the community.
For a metropolis with an abysmal file on public transport, the information of Rapid Metro community struggling financially has come as impolite shock for the residents. Around 60,000 folks commute each day in Rapid Metro, India’s first absolutely privately financed metro system that additionally acts as a feeder to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) community, connecting on the Sikanderpur metro station on the Yellow Line.
On shaky floor
Not in a position to meet its focused ridership of 1 lakh — for the primary and second phases put collectively — the virtually 12-km-lengthy metro community has been on shaky floor financially because it started its industrial operations on November 14, 2013. The first indicators of bother appeared final 12 months when Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon Limited (RMGL) accused the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), previously Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), of fabric breaches and defaults on the concession contract and requested the Haryana authorities to repair them inside 90 days.
In an settlement reached between the RMGL and HSVP (then HUDA) on December 9, 2009, the corporate was entitled to take part in property growth and commercial at venture web site to generate income along with the fare. As per the contract, the concessionaire has the rights to show visible commercials contained in the rolling inventory, the stations or alongside the route. The firm was additionally allowed to make the most of the land over, underneath and inside the stations for property growth and industrial exploitation throughout the concession interval, topic to a restrict of 250 sq. metre per station.
Non-fare income
Passenger fare contributes solely 30%-40% to the whole income of a metro venture, relying upon which stage it’s in; the remaining is the non-fare income generated by commercials and property rights. It is these rights which are the bone of competition between the 2 companions, with the RMGL accusing the HSVP of not permitting them in full, as per the contract.
Sources aware about the dispute between the 2 informed The Hindu that the corporate additionally accused HSVP of failing to hold out the event work alongside the metro hall as per the Master Plan-2031 and never setting up a sound feeder bus mechanism, hitting the ridership and inflicting lack of fare income.
The HSVP has rubbished the costs saying the corporate is levelling false allegations as it’s searching for a straightforward means out of the monetary mess it’s in due to its personal causes. It has additionally accused the RMGL of failing to fulfill its obligations on ridership.
‘Poor management’
Industry specialists partially blame the monetary troubles of the Rapid Metro on the poor administration of the venture and unhealthy advertising methods. The proven fact that the primary Managing Director of RMGL, Sanjiv Rai, was denied an extension and was changed by Rajiv Banga was sufficient trace at his “non-satisfactory performance”. It was in sharp distinction to 4 extensions to ‘Metro Man’ E. Sreedharan earlier than he retired in 2011, and 4-12 months extension to DMRC MD Mangu Singh, mentioned specialists.
On the advertising entrance too, whereas the RMGL gave the impression to be losing its efforts on mistaken decisions akin to operating birthday trains to earn income, it failed to draw the bigger workforce within the Cyber City to make use of the community. Experts mentioned that tie-ups with corporations working within the Cyber City and profitable gives to their workers might have helped the RMGL obtain its targetted ridership, particularly when the hall was linked to the DMRC’s Yellow Line.
Extending the RMGL community alongside the Golf Course Road, essentially the most elite deal with within the Millennium City, particularly when the stretch was being widened to 16-lane freeway, for its Phase-II too proved to be an unwise choice. Instead, connecting the Udyog Vihar Industrial Area, housing numerous garment models and different corporations, with the community and lengthening it additional to the Maruti Suzuki plant on Old Delhi-Gurugram Road and bus stand might have added much more numbers to the ridership. In the longer term, the extension in direction of Udyog Vihar might additionally act as a potential hyperlink between the DMRC’s Yellow and Blue Lines, additional augmenting the ridership.
Financial troubles
The monetary troubles of IL&FS, the corporate that constructed the Rapid Metro, in mid-2018 and the Union authorities shifting an software earlier than the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai, searching for suspension of its board of administrators on the grounds of huge mismanagement of public funds proved to be the final nail within the coffin of the RMGL.
The RMGL was among the many 38 home group entities of IL&FS labeled as “Red Entity” by the Union authorities, saying that it couldn’t meet its fee obligations in direction of even senior secured monetary collectors.
The HSVP has mentioned that there’s a want for due diligence on the monetary actions of the Rapid Metro. The authority officers keep that no one is aware of who the Rapid Metro administration had borrowed cash from and the place they spent it and what fraudulent contracts they signed.
“When a private party comes to develop an infrastructure within the city limits it has to face many challenges and the support of the government is the first thing which is solicited. When a project like this fails for whatsoever reasons, it demotivates private players, investors and even the government. The need of the hour is to get all the associated parties on a common platform so that they are able to play their respective roles and ensure that the project runs smoothly,” mentioned Sarvesh Tiwari, an infrastructure professional who was earlier related to the Rapid Metro venture.
While the 2 events battle it out legally within the Punjab and Haryana High Court — the matter is scheduled for listening to on September 17 — the commuters, crucial stakeholder within the matter, hold their fingers crossed for a beneficial consequence.
