The Hindu : Kerala News : Another bid to revive Chamravattom project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 01, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Another bid to revive Chamravattom project

Special Correspondent

State to seek Central aid for revised project

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government has decided to make another attempt to revive the Chamravattom project in Malappuram district which has been in the making for the last 21 years. The Government will seek assistance from the Centre under its "viability gap funding scheme" to convert the proposal into a feasible project.

TheChamravattom project had been originally conceived as a regulator-cum-bridge at a cost of Rs.137 crores. The Government had decided to implement the project on a build-own-and-transfer arrangement and invite expression of interests (EOI). However, the Planning Commission expressed its doubts about the viability of the project. Following this, the State Government decided to restructure the proposal and come out with one that envisaged a smaller estimate at Rs.61 crores for a weir-cum-bridge.

Giving the details of the proposal, Water Resources Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan on Monday said the Government would invite expression of interests once the upfront payment was released under the viability gap funding scheme. The scheme is meant to implement socially relevant projects to make them feasible, he added.

The Minister held discussions with the Solidarity Action Council agitating for the implementation of the project. He assured the representatives of the council that the Government would expedite steps to implement the project.

Asked about the earlier attempts to implement the proposal, including the previous Left Democratic Front Government's move to launch special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for which Rs.500 crores had been mobilised through the Infrastructure Development Fund for projects like these, Mr. Radhakrishnan said an Infrastructure Investment Board had been constituted, but the only expenditure incurred was payment of salary for the staff. He said he did not want to open the files to examine what his predecessors had done.

"I have an issue before me. It is a genuine one relating to the development of Malabar. My concern is how could the problem be sorted out," he said replying to another question whether the move to revive the proposal was politically motivated. Asked about the wasteful expenditure on construction materials, the Minister said there was nothing on record.

The representatives of the Solidarity Action Council who staged a demonstration before the Secretariat on Monday morning said that implementing the scheme would address issues related to salinity faced by the people. Once implemented, the project would benefit 35 panchayats. However, the project has got caught among the files, though crores of rupees has been misspent on worthless buildings, staff emoluments and construction materials, they said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News Update

Stories in this Section