Rs 12.75 crore bank loan to be repaid by corporation
Kerala CM Oommen Chandy
KOCHI: The roads and bridges corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) has agreed to stop toll collection at Ponnurunni rail overbridge after Kochi corporation agreed to pay the loan amount spent for bridge construction. The decision was taken at a high level meeting convened by chief minister Oomen Chandy at Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
The civic body will pay Rs 12.75 crore to repay the bank loan. In lieu, the civic body has been given the right to construct shops under the overbridge and to display advertisements on the lamp-posts in the RoB.
Minister for public works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, Benny Behanan MLA, RBDCK managing director Muhammad Haneesh and mayor Tony Chammany also attended the meeting. Earlier, the mayor agreed to pay the toll amount until Metro Rail construction work were completed on the grounds that thousands of commuters were depending on the bridge as an alternative route to SA Road where Metro work was on.
The Chief Minister intervened in the issue after the initial talks between the mayor and RBDCK failed. Though Mr Chammany asked for the rollback of the toll collection, the RBDCK had turned down the request saying that the agency required a government order in this regard. Toll collection is necessary as the agency had to repay the bank loan, RBDCK officials said.
The bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs 17.27 crore and the civic body had given Rs 4.08 crore for acquiring 30 cents of land out of the 164 cents needed for the project. The Railways had also assured that they would give Rs 8 crore for the project.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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