Monday, Aug 23, 2004
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By Our Staff Reporter
KANNUR, AUG. 22. Terming as baseless the charge that the proposed expressway is meant exclusively for the rich, the Public Works Minister, M.K. Muneer, has said that the process of launching the project will be initiated only after addressing all genuine concerns raised on its various aspects.
Time factor
``This is not a project for the rich to be developed at the expense of the poor. Moreover, it is not good to link the value of time with the rich alone,'' Dr. Muneer said while speaking at a seminar organised by the North Malabar Chamber of Commerce on the proposed Rs. 7,000-crore 507 km-long Access Controlled High Speed Corridor from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram. The Minister said that the issue of toll collection should not be isolated from the factors including the time saved, reduced fuel consumption and wear and tear of vehicles. Expressway was not envisaged as a road barred for public vehicles, he said adding that even vehicles running at a 60 kmph speed could use it, he said.
No cess collection
The Minister said there would not be any cess collection for the project. He said as per the advice of engineers, even the seven-metre height envisaged in the preliminary project report would not be required. ``All aspects of the project will be discussed with the people once the detailed project report (DPR) is prepared. All the details of the project can be explained only after the completion of the DPR which will take five more months,'' Dr. Muneer said dismissing the charge that details about the project were being kept secret.
Inevitable project
Stating that the expressway was inevitable for the State, the Minister said that no project could be implemented without compensating its environmental impact. Expressway project was estimated to require only seven-lakh cubic metre of quarry for raw material, he said adding that at present 170 lakh cubic metre of quarries were being mined in the State every year without drawing any protest. The present rate of development of roads was incompatible with the rate of increase in vehicles in the State, the Minister said. The existing highways in the State would be far inadequate to meet transport requirements once the proposed Vallarpadam container terminal project and other port development projects were completed, he said. The expressway would accelerate the economic development of the State and would also serve as an additional factor for agricultural development, he added.
Doubts about feasibility
Referring to the argument that such a mega project would not be financially feasible in the backdrop of the fact that the Pune-Mumbai expressway was not generating the expected revenue, Dr. Muneer said every project was supposed to have a breakeven period. He also dismissed as `xenophobia' the claim by the project critics that imperialist and finance capital forces promoted it. ``I am ready to abandon the project if it is found to be against the interests of the people, but let us not lose a project because of misleading campaigns,'' he said.
Automobile industry
Earlier, the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad activist, C.P. Hareendran, said he suspected the involvement of the automobile industry behind the project. The expressway project would lead to grave environmental problems, he said adding that it would be utilised by very small section of the population. The project would not be an answer to all developmental problems facing the State, he added. The senior journalist, K.M. Roy, said that the expressway system was ``inevitable in our time where time is money''. Stating that infrastructure development was the key issue in the State, he urged the Government to bring the project in the Assembly for a transparent discussion. The NMCC president, K. Thrivikraman, presided.
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