The Hindu : Many proposals for Express Highway

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Many proposals for Express Highway

By Our Special Correspondent

KOCHI Jan. 20. The Express Highway project linking the northern and southern parts of the State has received a number of proposals at the just concluded Global Investor Meet (GIM), the Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty, has said.

Talking to presspersons here today, he said that several projects to be implemented by the Public Works Department (PWD) had not come under the ambit of the Rs.26,000-crore investment for which understanding had been arrived at GIM. He cited the example of the Malaysian Minister's announcement regarding the keen interest evinced by that country in the highway project. A top PWD delegation would be holding discussions with a number of Malaysian companies for some of the important projects of the department, including the Express Highway.

Major investment decisions to the tune of Rs.10,000 crores have been announced by major public sector enterprises such as the NTPC and private sector groups including the Reliance, Infosys, Microsoft, Sutherland-USA, etc. A major chunk of this is from projects announced by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, at the GIM inaugural function.

Additionally, expressions of interest have been received for 12 projects that involve a total investment of about Rs.1,785 crores. There would not be any overlapping though more than a single Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed for a particular project.

The break up of MoUs signed as explained by the Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, Jiji Thomson, is as follows:

By KSIDC with Public Sector Enterprises (for 4 projects) - Rs.4,620 crores

By KSIDC with private promoters (for 20 projects) - Rs.2,053 crores

By Tourism Department (for seven projects) - Rs.745 crores

By Local Self Government (for 11 projects) - Rs.237 crores

By Health Department (for 13 projects) - Rs.1,875 crores

By Education Department (for three projects) - Rs.590 crores

By Ports Department (for one project) - Rs.350 crores

By Transport Department (for five projects) - Rs.110 crores

By Kinfra (for 28 projects ) - Rs.559 crores and

By NoRKA Department (for three projects) - Rs.12 crores.

This totals 95 projects for which Rs.11,151 crores would be needed.

Other than the above, on account of the Government's initiatives prior to GIM in the current financial year, about Rs.3,000 crores worth of investments have been attracted to the State, he said.

Within the MoUs, the sources of investments are as follows: foreign companies (nine) Rs.464 crores, from outside Kerala (17) Rs 907 crores, Public Sector Units (four) Rs.4,620 crores, Non-Resident Indians (17) Rs.2,326 crores and the Kerala Entrepreneurs (48) Rs.2,834 crores.

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Many proposals for Express Highway