Financial crisis facing the State has forced the government to drastically downsize the Rs.10,000-crore Sustainable and Planned Effort to Ensure Infrastructure Development (SPEEID) Kerala project of the Public Works Department (PWD).
There were 23 mega projects, mainly intended to create and improve road infrastructure. It had been brought down to five. The projects had figured in the Mission 676 of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government.
Confirming the decision, official sources told The Hindu that the government would need to mobilise only Rs.450 crore for the five shortlisted projects, namely, the Rs.45-crore Palarivattom flyover, Rs.143-crore Kozhikode bypass, Rs.65-crore Ramanapuram-Nalambalam-Darshan road, Rs.55-crore Kanjukuzhi-Vettathukavala-Karukachal road, and the Thalassery-Mahe bypass.
Work on the four-lane Palarivattom flyover and Kozhikode bypass had commenced. But, the detailed project report (DPR) had not been finalised for the much-delayed 18-km Thalassery-Mahe bypass. The bypass would be from Muzhappilangad to Azhiyur and was estimated to cost Rs.150 crore, as per current rates, sources said.
The construction of the uncompleted stretches of the Kollam and Alappuzha NH 66 bypass roads, under a 50:50 cost-sharing basis between the State and the Union governments, had initially figured under SPEEID. It was later delinked.
“The decision to bring down the projects under SPEEID is a temporary phenomenon. The other 18 projects will be taken up once the five are completed,” Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju said.
The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the special purpose vehicle under the PWD, had been entrusted with the task of mobilising funds for the projects, sources said.
Sources said the KRFB was struggling as the government had not made available any funds for the two projects that had started. The SPEEID projects were being executed through the PWD NH wing and Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala Ltd. (RBDCK). The flyover at Palarivattom was being executed by the RBDCK.