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‘Metro rail will be a boon to Kochi’

Nedumbassery: The proposed Metro railway project in Kochi would prove to be valuable in future as the city would face acute land shortage even for developing its roads, M. Ramachandran, Union Urban Development Ministry Secretary, has said.

He said the project was designed in such way that it did not affect any future development projects or the present traffic system in the city. “The city is going to accommodate some really huge development projects within the next 15 years and the elevated track will prove to be valuable for both the commuters as well as for the town planners”, he said.

On the status of the project, he said the Centre was deliberating on the State’s demand for equal participation by the Centre in the project. He, however, added that a big push at the ministerial level would be essential to expedite the procedures for its approval by the Planning Commission.

Out of the total five Metro projects in the country, those in Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore have been taken up with the Centre’s participation. The other two, in Hyderabad and Mumbai, are being implemented with the help of private players.

Mr. Ramachandran said that government participation in the project was essential in fixing the fares at a rate benefiting the common man. He suggested that the services by the international banks such as the Japanese Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) with just 1.5% interest with a 10-year moratorium on repayment and another 20-year period for repayment could be made useful in financing the project.

Referring to the ongoing protests by traders in the city against the proposal, he warned that such protests might lead to scrapping of the project as the proposal was under the review panel of the Planning Commission for an in-principle approval.

“There are chances of the review panel taking into account their responses to the project and that may adversely affect the required in-principle approval by the authority”.

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