Hyderabad, July 17 - The Andhra Pradesh government has invited fresh global bids for the Rs.121-billion ($2.4-billion) Hyderabad Metro Rail project in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The notification issued late Thursday by Municipal Administration and Urban Development Principal Secretary C.V.S.K. Sarma said the bid documents would be available from July 21.

The last date for submitting applications for pre-qualification is Sep 7.

The fresh bids were invited after the government July 7 scrapped the earlier contract awarded to a consortium led by Maytas Infrastructure, a firm owned by the family of B. Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services, after it failed to achieve the financial closure by the extended deadline.

The Maytas-led consortium held 52 percent and the state government 16 percent equity in the project.

According to the latest notification, the indicative cost of the project is Rs.12,132 crore (Rs.121.32 billion). The elevated metro rail project will be executed on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

Officials said the companies participating in the bids have to pass through pre-qualification bidding before being allowed to participate in technical and financial bidding.

Thursday's notification was issued four days after the government decided to invite fresh global tenders. This followed the scrapping of the agreement signed with the Maytas Infra-led consortium.

Municipal Administration Minister Aanam Ramanarayana Reddy had Monday announced that the process of selecting a new developer would be completed by Nov 15.