The government’s decision to shoot down the proposal of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC) to float tenders for the rolling stock of the proposed Light Metro in the cities of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode has irked the interim consultant.
The decision to float tenders was taken based on two rounds of talks with suppliers of rolling stock and on the report of a six-member high-level team led by DMRC Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan that visited Kuala Lumpur and Taipei earlier this year to study the rolling stock used in urban rail system there.
The DMRC’s effort to float tenders for rolling stock has been rejected by Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation Ltd. (KRTL), the special purpose vehicle set up to execute the project, sources in the MRTS project told The Hindu . Initially, Managing Director of KRTL P.I. Sheikh Pareeth had given approval to the DMRC to float tenders, but later he withdrew the decision.
The KRTL board, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, that met recently has now decided to write to the Union Ministry of Urban Affairs on the specifications of the rolling stock. The Ministry does not have competence in this regard and the move to float the tenders for the rolling stock was to know the suppliers and the market for the Light Metro being introduced for the first time.
Many crucial decisions to be taken by the government and approval for the take-off of the project are getting delayed. It’s been over two years since the DMRC submitted the Detailed Project Report for the ₹6,728-crore project to the State government. It has been awaiting Centre’s clearance since then.
Administrative sanction for the project was given by the Cabinet on September 8, 2016, following the intervention of DMRC Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan. The DMRC was made the turnkey consultant and approval was given to commence the ₹.272.84-crore preparatory work. But, land acquisition has not commenced.
The only consolation is that 6(I) notification has been issued to acquire the land needed for four flyovers and 19 Light Metro stations in the capital and a decision has been taken by the Cabinet last week to allot free of cost 10.11 hectares of land near the CRPF camp at Pallipuram along the NH 66 to the KRTL for the Light Metro depot at Technocity and to register it under KRTL.
Neither the government nor the KRTL, the special purpose vehicle set up to execute the project, has followed earnestly the request for approval submitted by the State to the Union Ministry of Urban Affairs, sources said. Even top officials of the State do not know whether the file is with the Ministry or has been forwarded to the Public Investment Board (PIB).
Consequent to the retirement of Mr. Pareeth in November, the government appointed Director of Ports Ajith Patil as KRTL’s Managing Director.
The government has not given approval for the fourth flyover proposed along the Technocity-Karamana Light Metro corridor at Thampanoor despite the DMRC submitting the design and drawings to the PWD, sources said.
The project is to be implemented as a government initiative on the DMRC model with viability gap funding by the Centre and the State. A decision on the funding of the balance amount is also pending. The project is to be executed on a turnkey basis on the lines of the Kochi Metro Rail project.
