Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Industries Minister denies allegations

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industries Minister Elamaram Karim said in the Assembly on Wednesday that there was no link between dropping of the modernisation programme of Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited (KMML) and the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Russian company for manufacture of titanium sponge.

Denying Opposition allegations, the Minister said it was the Government and not KMML which had signed the MoU with the Russian company VSMPO-Avisma and its parent company RosOboron Export.

It was for establishment of a separate plant. It was to be implemented through the MoU route as had been done in the case of the Smart City project.

Referring to the criticisms that the project cost had gone up from Rs.1,200 crore to Rs.1,500 crore, the Minister said that it was the company, not the KMML, which was investing the money. It will not be a feeder unit of KMML.

He said the modernisation project was cancelled on account of irregularities in the contracts and escalation of costs. The Opposition was raising the allegations to help the middlemen who were behind the deals.

V.D. Satheesan (Congress) interjected to say that the Government had chosen the MoU route ignoring the expressions of interest received from five companies in addition to the Russian company.

Global tenders should have been invited for the project, he added.

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