Hyderabad: The Telangana government is treading cautiously in its bid to streamline operations and ensure hassle-free Metro rail services in the future. Since mobilisation of funds remains a major challenge as regards payment of a staggering Rs 13,000 crore debts of L and T company, the state government is weighing all possible options, including the possibility of floating a corporation, mortgaging costly assets belonging to metro rail or inviting global players for a possible PPP tie-up.

Meanwhile, top officials from the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department said that the government took the decision of taking over HMRL from L&T to expedite the Metro Rail phase-2 project process and seek an early central clearance.

Meanwhile, the big task up ahead for the government is to settle L&T’s demand over the pending Rs 2000 crore and meet the project’s debt of Rs 13,000 crore.

“The government is toying with numerous options to find a permanent solution and zero in on one that will keep them clear of financial and legal hurdles”, an official said. State Advisor to Urban Transport NVS Reddy was entrusted with the responsibility of preparing a road map to run the metro rail effectively along with getting approval for the second phase project in the Greater Hyderabad city limits spreading over 76.4 km at a cost of Rs 24, 269 crore.

The first option before the government is to float a corporation and create a management and executive body to run metro rail efficiently. The potential metro rail corporation will help to mobilise the required funds.

However, the government will take a call only after studying the implications of settling the huge debt burden that comes with the L&T takeover.

The second option, authorities said, was to mortgage the costly metro rail assets and mobilise funds. The option of inviting global players in transportation was also under consideration to run the metro rail services and take up the phase-2 project. “A clear picture will come out only after chief minister A Revanth Reddy holds a meeting with officials from finance, urban development and some experts to discuss fund mobilisation”, sources said.