Potholes, depressions, settlements, worn-out surfaces, uneven stretches, waterlogging, sunken manholes, overgrown plants and trees, ill-maintained gardens and lawns, worn-out road markings, non-functional traffic signals and street lights greet the road users on many corridors developed into world class in the heart of the capital under the much lauded 43.26-km Thiruvananthapuram City Road Improvement Project (TCRIP).
For the motorists traversing through the TCRIP corridor, it is a bumpy ride as the ones in a badly maintained road corridors of the Public Works Department or the civic bodies. Yawning potholes have sprung up in the Attakulangara-Enchakkal bypass, one of the ill-maintained stretches, that has turned a nightmare for the road users.
Motorists quickly swerving their vehicles to avoid the gaping potholes, sunken manholes and uneven surfaces on the stretch pose danger to other vehicles coming from the rear. Damage caused to the road corridor due to digging to repair the pipe bursts of the Kerala Water Authority’s drinking water line near Vanross junction, Nanadvanam-Bakery corridor and on the arterial road of the city near the VJT Hall, to name a few, are lying unattended for months and pose risks to the road users, especially the motorists.
The Kerala State Human Rights Commission had to intervene to fill the potholes that sprung up in Ulloor-Medical College road, the key emergency corridor from the National Highway 66 and M. C. Road to the Government Medical College Hospital and other medical institutions in its vicinity.
The unscientific installation of the metal display boards along the median in the arterial road, without seeking the permission of the TRDCL and with the blessings of the City Police, has been taken up by the State Human Rights Commission.
Lack of timely maintenance and upkeep, inability to carry out profile corrections and overlay by the concessionaire-Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd (TRDCL)-is leading to the deterioration of the TCRIP roads day by day.
TCRIP, an iconic project, was one of the 12 projects that had figured in Agenda in the PPP Forum of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) held in the UN Headquarters, Geneva in 2016, and a trend-setter in the State for development of road network and maintenance.
TRDCL, the Special Purpose Vehicle for the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project under IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd., sources funds on government guarantee from a consortium of banks for concession and for meeting the daily expenses.
Undue delay in paying the annuity payments to TRDCL and restoration charges of the CRIP corridors dug up for laying cables of utility agencies and rectifying leaks in KWA’s drinking water lines of the KWA and financial crises facing the IL& FS and inability to infuse funds has resulted in the delay in repair and maintenance.
₹30 crore due
Over ₹30 crore is due from the government towards the annuity payment, that includes 90 per cent of the construction and interest on the capital, and restoration charges of the CRIP corridors.
With the annuity payment getting delayed, banks have stopped giving funds to the TRDCL. The TRDCL, on their hand, is unable to make the ₹6 crore payments to the firms tasked for upkeep, repair and maintenance of the roads.
Issues over the restoration charges of ₹8 crore due to the TRDCL from the government and workmanship have also cast a shadow on the project that also ushered a change in the PWD. The clauses in the PPP agreement were not adhered to by the government. Moreover, the KRFB did not intervene when shoddy work was executed by the utility agencies in corridors like Attakulangara-Enchakkal when 39 manholes were constructed.
“The 1.4 km from Attakulangara to Eenchakkal has 78 manholes and all are in a bad shape. The sewerage line has to be replaced as the stretch has heavy vehicles movement. The TRDCL cannot take responsibility for this shoddy work by the KWA,” says the former Managing Director of TRDCL, Anil Kumar Pandala.The ₹450-crore TCRIP is the maiden Public Private Partnership (PPP) project in the country for urban infrastructure development with participation of the State and the private sector. As per the PPP norms, the government has to pay ₹36 crore annually as annuity to the TRDCL for 15 years.
The August 2017 notice by the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), functioning under the PWD as the Concessioning Authority, to the TRDCL to expedite the repair and maintenance and undertake the needed overlay in the corridors has failed to evoke any response from the concessionaire.
Mounting criticism
With the government’s intervention due to the mounting criticism, the move by the KRFB to execute the repair and maintenance works in some of the key corridors by floating tenders also did not evoke response from the contractors.
“We have undertaken the repair works in the Ulloor-Medical College stretch through a contractor to ensure the safety of the road users. The amount due to the TRDCL wlll be deducted and given to the contractor. Tenders had been floated again for taking up overlay of four CRIP corridors, including Attakulangara-Eenchakkal bypass corridor,” says th KRFB Chief Executive Officer, M. N. Jeevaraj.
