The Hindu : First leg of expressway in three years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 31, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

First leg of expressway in three years

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI MAY 30. If everything goes on schedule, the first leg of the proposed Rs. 6400-crore Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram expressway will be completed in another three years. The first phase of the high-speed limited-access expressway, which is Kerala's answer to Germany's famed autobahn, will be a 140-km stretch from Athani in Ernakulam district to Pulikkal in Malappuram district.

``We will finish the work in three years--one year for land acquisition and two for laying the road,'' V.J. Kurien, managing director of the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK), told The Hindu. Mr. Kurien, who is credited with building the Kochi international airport ahead of schedule, is confident that the work on land acquisition can start in a few weeks after the financial institutions submitted their report on financial structuring to the Government.

The Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation of India, the Infrastructure and Leasing Finance Corporation of India and SBI Caps are expected to submit the report by May 31. These institutions, Mr. Kurien pointed out, would `revalidate' the funding modes. They would also give their opinion on the cess to be charged on the vehicles that would use the autobahn.

The funds would be mobilised by a `special-purpose vehicle' to be created. The majority of the funding will come from loans and debentures and Government grants. The State Government would be have 50 per cent of 75 per cent of equity participation and the rest will be chipped in by the `strategic partners' in the private sector.

The final decision on the financial structuring will be taken by the State Cabinet. Since the expressway is a political decision, the report of the financial institutions will first be considered by the UDF liaison committee before being presented to the Cabinet. The decision on cess to be charged is going to be tricky as it is a controversial issue and political considerations will weigh heavily on the decision. The final Government nod is expected in less than two months. Once RBDCK gets the go-ahead from the Government, it can straightaway start land acquisition. However, land acquisition, which is always a very tough job in the land-scarce Kerala, is expected to take substantial amount of time, expertise and negotiation skills on the part of the Revenue officials. It was on the rock of land acquisition that many a project in Kerala wrecked in the past.

Special land acquisition teams would have to be set up in the Ernakulam, Thrissur and Malappuram collectorates, under the supervision of the Collectors concerned, to speed up the acquisition work on the Athani-Pulickal stretch.

The 140-km four-lane Athani-Pulikkal stretch is likely to cost Rs. 1670 crores. Roughly one-fourth of this--Rs. 440 crores--will be spent for land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement alone.

When completed, in ten years, the 507-km expressway will pass through 12 districts in the State (the hilly of Idukki and Wayanad will be outside the reach of the expressway).

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