Thrissur: With the main contractor KMC facing trouble in getting money from banks, the works on the 1-km-long twin tunnels in Kuthiran Climb have come to a halt for the past three days. The excavation works of the tunnels on Mannuthy-Wadakkanchery six-lane toll way were completed a few months ago and the works of laying concrete tiles on the tunnel road and the two passages connecting both the tunnels were going on at present. M.V.S. Krishnamraju of Pragathi Engineering which is the sub-contractor of KMC to do the tunnel work said that the cash flow from the consortium of banks funding the project for KMC had been affected for the past four months, but his company was able to manage it all these while.
“We were able to convince our workers over the delay in payment of their workers, but some our suppliers and sub-contractors have called off their supply and work due to non-payment. It is not the government which is funding the project and the KMC is raising money from the banks. They will take back the money along with its interest by collecting toll,” he said. Notwithstanding the issues regarding the cash flow, both the tunnels will be ready for traffic in December, he added. As per the estimate of tunnels in 2009, the total cost for the tunnel project was pegged at Rs 900 crore, but according to officials of Pragathi, the final cost for the project would be more than Rs 1,000 crore now.
