Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao Wednesday mooted a proposal to extend the 72-km Hyderabad Metro rail project to 200 km to meet the needs of the fast growing city.
The chief minister said the expansion of the project was required as the city's population was likely to reach two crore.
At a meeting with ministers and government and L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd. (LTMRHL) officials, he said the ongoing project was not sufficient to meet the requirements in view of the upcoming Information Technology and Investment Region (ITIR) project.
He said many investors were coming forward to set up industries in and around Hyderabad.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said the previous government went for only 72 km as it lacked vision.
LTMRHL chairman Y.M. Deosthalee, and Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited managing director N.V.S. Reddy attended the meeting.
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The chief minister asked officials to speed up the work on the project so that Nagole-Mettuguda stretch could be thrown open for public in March next year.
He told them to divert vehicular traffic, wherever necessary, to complete the work on a war footing.
LTMRHL last week began a trial run on Nagole-Mettuguda, an 8-km stretch on one of the three corridors.
The 72-km-long elevated Metro rail project is being built at a cost of Rs.14,132 crore. It is one of the biggest projects in the world in public private partnership (PPP) model.