Upset over the delay in granting clearance to the Rs.6,728-crore Light Metro proposed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, the DMRC is thinking of winding up their establishments in the two cities. Subsequently, the DMRC is likely to pull out of the project.
Bureaucratic hurdles and the inordinate delay in getting Cabinet nod for the project, cleared by the board of Kerala Monorail Corporation Ltd. (KMCL) on October 24, have forced the DMRC to take the step. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had chaired the board meeting.
DMRC Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan communicated the DMRC’s decision to the State government on Tuesday. In a letter to the Managing Director of Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation Ltd. (KMCL was rechristened KMCL after the monorail project was scrapped), Mr. Sreedharan said ‘perceptible action’ was missing for six months after the board accepted the detailed project report (DPR).
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Mr. Sreedharan, who is also a Member of the Planning Board in-charge of Transport, said the Cabinet had not given the nod for the DPR prepared by it for the Light Metro to be executed on 35.12 km in the two cities. No implementation strategy had bee spelt out. Further, the agreement had not been signed with the DMRC for turnkey consultancy and the Union government had not been approached till date. The State had not made its position clear on the funding pattern, he said.
The DMRC had mooted five per cent green cess to mobilise funds. Official sourced said the project officials cannot approach the Urban Affairs Ministry for part funding of the project as the Cabinet had not given its nod. The DMRC, in the interim, had convened a meeting of rolling stock manufacturers on November 19 and another one on December 16 to enable people’s representatives of the two cities to get their doubts cleared.
The DPR had reached the Finance Department from the Planning Board with the recommendation of executing the project in the public-private participation (PPP) mode.
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The Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, had communicated to the DMRC that he would see the file only in the second week of April, sources said.
‘Perceptible’ action missing: E. Sreedharan
Concern over delay in getting Cabinet nod