Hyderabad, Jan 1 (IANS): Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday clarified that the state government has not scrapped the Airport Metro and Pharma City projects.

He said the government was only considering alternate routes to connect the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad and similarly, it proposed to set up the Pharma City in the form of clusters between Outer Ring Road and the proposed Regional Ring Road.

This was being done keeping in mind the public interest, he clarified during an informal chat with media persons.

A week after taking oath as the Chief Minister last month, Revanth Reddy had directed the officials of Hyderabad Metro Rail to keep the present Airport alignment from HITEC City on hold and had also asked senior officers to plan for an environment-friendly mega township in the huge extent of lands acquired for Pharma City near Kandukur.

He maintained that there will be no users of the Metro on route proposed earlier while Pharma City should not be near to Hyderabad. He claimed that the alternate Metro routes will reduce the distance to the airport.

The alternate routes are from MGBS to Airport via old city. Another Metro route from Nagole to Chandrayanagutta via L.B Nagar to join the proposed line from MGBS.

The Chief Minister said that the government will also consider extending the Metro from Miyapur to Ramachandrapuram and from Mind Space (in HITEC City) to Financial District. He claimed that the new Metro lines proposed by his government would cost less compared to those proposed by the previous BRS government.

Revanth Reddy also stated that the government will create clusters for the pharma sector between the present Outer Ring Road and the proposed Regional Ring Road. He said these clusters will be established with zero pollution. The Chief Minister said housing facilities can be provided to the employees working in pharma units near the clusters. The government will also set up specialised universities to provide required skills to the youth.