E. Sreedharan, Principal Adviser to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), on Wednesday reiterated his stand that he would not become the managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL).
He was interacting with the media after discussions on the Kochi metro with experts from the DMRC’s Kochi unit. He also evaluated the progress of preparatory works undertaken by the DMRC.
Mr. Sreedharan said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had requested him to become the KMRL’s managing director nearly a month before he retired as the managing director of the DMRC and he had turned it down citing his inability to take up another full-time assignment.
On the Kochi metro project, Mr. Sreedharan said the DMRC had been entrusted with the task of assisting the project. The details of the association would be decided after a committee comprising Sudhir Krishna, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, and the Chief Secretaries of New Delhi and Kerala submitted its report.
The committee would submit its report before the next director board meeting of the KMRL on December 4.
Asked whether the DMRC can spare its resources for the Kochi metro, Mr. Sreedharan said the agency had already made recruitments for handling the Kochi project. The DMRC would invite global tenders for implementing the project.
The project could be completed in three years if the DMRC was entrusted with the work, he said.
JICA team arrives
Mr. Sreedharan said a fact-finding team of the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) reached the city on Wednesday. The team’s visit would be followed by two more visits by assessment teams from the agency, before a final decision on a loan for the metro was taken.
The Rs.5,182-crore project requires loan of Rs.2,174 crore, which works out to 44 per cent of the project cost.
The JICA team is led by Takeshi Fukyama, senior consultant, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Japan.
The team comprises Eiichi Yamamoto, organisation and capacity building expert; Nelson Alvarez, business implementation expert; Tsuneo Hashimoto, civil technical expert; Reiji Ishima, signal technical expert; Ikuo Numata, contract expert; Yoshitaka Yashiro, procurement expert; Takuya Inoue, cooperation partner; Keisuke Fukui, assistant director of South Asia Department of JICA; and Yuichiro Sano, representative of JICA India office.
