Thiruvananthapuram: The NH Action Council wants Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board to finance the national highway development into four-lane with a 30-metre width including service roads instead of 45 metres.
But the state government has already taken a decision to go for 45-metre wide carriageways with the Union government bearing all expenses and has completed the alignment for the Thalappady-Edappally stretch.
Finance minister T. M. Thomas Isaac had included Rs 5,628 crore for the construction of 182 roads under KIIFB. When the Union surface transport ministry is firm on BOT toll roads, they say, it is ideal to raise funds for NH through KIIFB. Their demand is that the NH authorities can either develop NH by Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) or by Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM).
“A 30-metre carriageway requires only 660 acres of land. But in the case of 45-metre width, then it will have to acquire 3,326 acres displacing thousands of people,” said Abullais Thenhippalam, its Malappuram district convener.
EPC is a particular form of contracting arrangement where the EPC contractor is made responsible for all the activities from design, procurement, construction, to commissioning and handover of the project to the end-user or owner.
As per HAM, the government will contribute 40 percent of the project cost in the first five years through annual payments (annuity). The remaining payment will be made by the assets created and the performance of the developer.
But a senior public works official told DC that works minister G. Sudhakaran had been misleading people, repeatedly claiming that the state was developing the NH.
"So it is not at all surprising when the NH Action Council comes out with a demand that the NH development should be included under KIIFB,” he said.
“But the fact is that the Union ministry is doing everything including the land acquisition and paying compensation to the displaced people."
