The Hindu : `Govt. keen on Kochi Skybus project'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

`Govt. keen on Kochi Skybus project'

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI APRIL 27. The Government will go ahead with the Skybus project in Kochi, the Transport Minister, R. Balakrishna Pillai, has said.

He said the Government was thinking of entrusting the project to the Konkan Railway Corporation as it was a Central Government-owned company and hence there would be little scope for corruption and controversies. Moreover, the company had proved its efficiency. The Government wanted the most modern technology to be used for the project, which would be built under a BOT (build-operate-transfer) agreement. Mr. Pillai said it was he who had first mooted the Skybus idea during his last term as Transport Minister.

He said private buses older than 17 years would not be allowed to ply in Ernakulam district. The Government had long back warned the bus owners of this. The High Court had extended the 15-year ceiling by two years and the State Government had given another three months' extension. "Transport officials not implementing this order will have to stay home (meaning they would lose their jobs),'' he said.

The Minister said the State should raise its voice to get the national express highway network extended from Coimbatore to Kochi. Though Kerala would not, as things stood now, get the benefit of the road, Keralites were paying at least Rs. 1 crore every day in the form of the Re.1 express highway cess on every litre of fuel they bought. The KSRTC alone paid Rs. 3.5 lakhs everyday, he pointed out.

He agreed with the Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikkutty's observation that the series of hartals in the recent past had hurt the prospects of GIM-related projects. Without mentioning the name of the company, Mr. Pillai said a leading computer software industry, which had promised to make a huge investment in the State, was now backtracking because of the hartals and the poor political climate. (Infosys is rumoured to be going back on their promise of setting up a huge unit in Kerala).

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`Govt. keen on Kochi Skybus project'