more-in L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH), the concessionnaire constructing and running the Hyderabad Metro Rail project, is getting ready to open two shopping malls. L&TMRH has been given 269 acres of land parcels for exploiting real estate of up to 18.5 million sq.ft at the depots and various stations for the next 60 years. The two malls, fast nearing completion, will come up at Erramanzil (0.35 million sq.ft) and at Musarambagh (0.24 million sq.ft). The new commercial spaces will be in addition to the malls already functional at Punjagutta of 0.48 million sq.ft which was opened late last year and another at Hi-Tec City station of 0.21 million sq.ft. opened in February this year. This is part of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) along the metro lines permitted by the Government as at least 45% of the revenue generation is expected to come from commercial exploitation of real estate space (6.5 million at stations alone) for IT/ITES, multiplex, restaurants, supermarkets, retail stores, medical shops, etc. Five per cent revenue is expected from advertisements and rest 50% from fare collection. Senior metro rail officials indicate that plans to develop the Raidurg site, the terminal station for the Corridor Three - Nagole to Raidurg (28 km), when the line will be extended from the current terminal station of HiTec City through the Mindspace junction, is under way. L&TMRH has been given up to 15 acres where it wants to build the biggest mall of 3.20 million sq.ft. With the final metro line extension up to Raidurg easily more than a year away, the firm intends to start with a 0.5 million sq.ft mall along with a 0.15 million sq.ft mall at Rasoolpura. Non-fare revenues Other non-fare revenues are expected to come through cross-selling of products which could be strengthened when the metro expansion happens into the international airport and under phase two, senior officials say. It has also tied up with a solar power developer for generating solar power of about 10 MW to generate 10% of the energy requirement for metro trains. A special concession rate of ?4.95 per unit has been received — said to be the cheapest in the country for electricity. Leasing space for mobile towers, skywalks to connect to the malls, tie-up with cab operators, leasing out optical fibre and consultancy services for other metros are other revenue generating options, they add.

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