Concern over delay in opening new bus terminal at Thiruvalla

The inordinate delay in the completion of the modern KSRTC bus terminal in Thiruvalla has become a matter of concern for the people of this Central Travancore town.

The KSRTC and the Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation (KTDFC) had commenced work on the 10-storey bus terminal-cum-shopping mall project in Thiruvalla in December, 2010, setting August 31, 2013, the target date for its commissioning.

Mumbai-based Naresh Builders undertook the construction work as their first project in Kerala. But for some political hiccups over earth removal from the project site in connection with its basement work, the work has progressed steadily.

However, the delay in the project work started surfacing following the change of guard in the State following the Assembly elections in 2011. Deviating from the original plan, the top two floors have been made into two multiplexes.

Former Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas who had initiated the venture told The Hindu that the projects was part of the previous LDF government’s efforts to salvage the debt-ridden road transport corporation. The two pilot projects at Angamaly and Thiruvananthapuram have already been completed, he said.

Mr. Thomas is confident that the project, once commissioned, would give a major facelift to Thiruvalla, besides bringing handsome revenue to the ailing KSRTC.

To a question raised by the MLA in the Assembly a year ago, Transport Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had stated that the work on the Thiruvalla KSRTC bus terminal would be completed by June 30, 2014.

The MLA accuses the Transport Minister of misleading the House by making such an ‘irresponsible’ statement as the work on the bus terminal is yet to be completed.

Mr. Thomas claims that the KSRTC had set an example by mobilising Rs 32 lakh by way of selling the earth removed from the project site for the basement work during the previous LDF rule.

Thomas Cherian, KTDFC project manager, says that the finishing work on the 16,236 sq. ft. KSRTC bus terminal was fast progressing so as to commission the project at the earliest.

The total plinth area of the Rs. 42 crore KSRTC complex in Thiruvalla is 2.5 lakh sq.ft. The complex consists of two basements for car parking, the ground floor as the bus terminal and nine other floors for commercial purposes.