Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Capital expenditure to go up

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said on Thursday that additional infrastructure projects costing Rs.1,000 crore would be taken up in the new financial year.

With that, the capital expenditure would go up from one per cent of the annual budget this year to two per cent next year.

Addressing a press conference here, the Minister said that the Finance Department released a record amount of Rs.132.05 crore on Thursday towards clearing arrears due to the public works contractors. This was to pave way for increased capital expenditure next year. As on Thursday, dues to contractors of roads and bridges up to December 2006 were cleared, he said.

Arrears pertaining to January and February 2007 would be paid before the end of this financial year. When the LDF came to power, arrears pertaining to 24 months were pending. Now, only 12 months’ arrears would be pending.

Similarly, the arrears due to irrigation contractors up to March 2007 were cleared. Arrears to building contractors would be cleared up to December 2007. Contractors getting cheques would have to clear them before the end of the financial year to avoid the need for revalidation.

He said that administrative sanction was being accorded for completing ongoing and new works of railway overbridges, drinking water schemes, roads and bridges costing Rs.1,000 crore.

About 50 drinking water schemes funded by the Life Insurance Corporation was pending completion. Administrative sanction was given for completing 40 of these projects on a priority basis next year. Besides, sanction would be given for seven drinking water projects funded by Nabard and costing Rs.250 crore.

He said that work on the railway overbridges taken up by the Roads and Bridges Corporation had come to a standstill for want of funds. Though 13 of the 35 overbridges were completed, the corporation could not repay loans and take up new works on account of opposition to collection of toll.

Steps would be taken to complete the remaining overbridges costing Rs.230 crore, if people’s representatives agreed to collection of toll.

The government would provide some money as viability gap funding. Discussions were also under way for completion of the railway overbridge and flyover at Alappuzha and other overbridges along the national highway. The money for these would be provided through supplementary demands for grants in July.

Asked about his party’s opposition to collection of toll, the Minister said that the Cabinet had already cleared State support agreement for the national highways which provided for collection of toll. The same policy would apply in the cases of overbridges also.

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