PPP model good for metro-rail projects: Govt

The withdrawal of Reliance Infra from Delhi Airport line does not mean that public private partnership (PPP) projects don't work in Metro projects and government will appoint consultants to find the best models for such projects, Union minister Kamal Nath said on Monday.

"We will appoint consultants to see what the best model is. The PPP model has been successful in our country. Work on PPP model is still going on in Mumbai and Hyderabad (Metros). It is not that the PPP models are bad, they are of various types and it is not that one size fits all," Nath told reporters.

Also read: Why RInfra walked out of Delhi airport metro line project

"So we will see for various lines, whether PPP can work or not. Is there traffic, capital cost, and how much subsidy is required. We will appoint consultants," he added. The Urban Development minister was asked about the future of the Delhi airport metro link from which Reliance Infra owned Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited has withdrawn. The link was the first PPP project in the metro
sector in the country.

Nath also said that the contentions between the Delhi Metro and Reliance Infra were a "contractual and legal" matter but the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would continue to run the line.

"The airport line would be run by the DMRC so that there is no inconvenience to common citizens. It would be seen from a legal point on what the solution would be," Nath told reporters.

"This is a contractual and legal matter. They had as per contract served an arbitration notice. Arbitration has started. Now they say we can't run because there is not enough ridership. There were hopes related to ridership but it is only 5000. They said it is not possible to run the line with this ridership," he said.

Nath aid that it would be considered as to how the matter should be handled. In a reply to a separate question. he said that the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and UP had formed their own Metro corporations to expand networks in their states and added that while presently Delhi Metro was the reservoir of expertise and experience, in future the states would build their own metro networks.