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No objection to ADB aid: Joseph

P.J. Joseph says LDF’s opposition is to conditions for loan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Congress (J) leader P.J. Joseph said here on Friday that the LDF had no objection to accepting financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank for development schemes.

Mr. Joseph, who concluded his jatha from Mumbai to Kanyakumari to press for a Jammu-Kanyakumari rail passenger corridor, said the LDF’s opposition was only to some of the conditions put forward by the lending agencies.

The State government should be ready to accept assistance from any agency if that would facilitate development of road, rail and other infrastructure.

The KC(J) chairman said that there was urgent need for a high-speed passenger corridor between Jammu and Kanyakumari, as it would benefit the 30 lakh Malayalis living in Mumbai and 15 lakh Malayalis living in New Delhi.

His own enquiries had revealed that there was excellent potential for such a project and it could be constructed with acquisition of limited extent of land as the Railways already had around 60 per cent of the land needed for the purpose.

With a high-speed rail corridor, it would be possible to operate trains running up to a speed of 250 km and that would enable Malayalis living in Mumbai to reach Kerala in seven to eight hours.

The project can be constructed in phases at a cost of Rs.60 crore a kilometre. It would also have several spin-off benefits, including tremendous boost to tourism on the west coast.

Mr. Joseph said that a memorandum signed by 40 MPs belonging to the various States in western India and cutting across party lines had been sent to the Prime Minister to press the demand for a high-speed rail passenger corridor.

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