THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and works minister G. Sudhakaran are against building new roads and bridges becoming a liability for the state reeling under poor finances. So they have instructed the public works department (PWD) officials to exert maximum pressure on Union ministry of road transport and highways for more funds. Currently, the PWD is burdened with several ongoing projects. They include Vyttila flyover (Rs 78.36 crore), Kundanoor bridge (Rs 89 crore), Kollam bypass (Rs 352 crore) and Alappuzha bypass (Rs 348 crore).
Also, it has taken up Karamana – Kaliyikkavila highway (Rs 142 crore), the last phase of Kozhikode bypass (5.1 km at Rs 152.75 crore), 13-km Ponnani – Kuttippuram bypass (Rs 52 crore), Thondayad bypass (Rs 59 crore) and Ramanattukara flyover (Rs 89 crore). A PWD official said it was the previous government that set the trend of taking up huge projects when the Union government could have done it.
“Currently, they are forced on us because the UDF ministry had given administrative sanction, especially for bypasses and flyovers. It is a huge burden on the exchequer,” he told this newspaper. Another official said the current financial situation looked very bleak, so the CM and works minister doesn’t want mega projects.
“The previous government’s was a people-friendly policy to ease their sufferings. They had reasons to sanction them as there was an inordinate delay in the land acquisition process and development works on the National Highway,” he told DC. A separate head was formed exclusively for NH development in the state budget earmarking Rs 82 crore. So far the LDF government has not given administrative sanction to any significant projects.
