Central, State duty waiver for Kozhikode monorail project

PWD minister V K Ibrahim Kunju on Monday told the Assembly that the Kozhikode monorail project would get fifty per cent waiver on the state and central duties.

He said the project with an approximate outlay of over ` 1832 crore would be started this year itself and is expected to be completed in three years.

He hoped that the project could get 50 percent waiver on central and state duties amounting to 20 per cent of the project cost as grant. Ibrahim Kunju said the 14.2 km-long monorail will have 15 stations.

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the Chief Minister as chairman would be constituted. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) which implement the project has already opened its office at Chalappuram.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation former chairman E M Sreedharan will function as adviser to the project.

He said Kollam city will also be included under the City Road Development Project.

The Thrissur and Kannur cities had already been included under this project. The roads in the Thiruvananthapuram city have attained international standards ,according to the minister.

The roads in Kochi and Kozhikode will also be attaining these standards. The minister said that the State Government would take over the Alappuzha bypass project which had been hampered for a long time and would be implemented as an elevated highway.

Eve Zone for women

The minister said PWD would set up Eve zone and e-toilets in the three metro cities of the state. Ten e-toilets each would be set up at these cities using the Gender budget of the department. The 77-km-long Kazhakoottam-Adoor stretch of the KSTP road will be declared safe corridor.

If the experiment is found successful, the scheme would be implemented in other sectors. Awards for engineers To recognise commendable contributions made by PWD engineers, awards will be instituted.

Engineers up to the post of executive engineers will be considered for the award. The best woman engineer also will be given award. A jury comprising Principal Secretary, PWD, Chief Engineer, Chief Technical Executive and president or secretary of the Kerala Working Journalists Union will select the awardees.

The minister said those who surrender land free of cost for road widening would be compensated for shifting their possessions.

Compensation could be given by including their claims in the Plan.

Under the new road policy of the government, there would be regulations to prevent placing obscene hoardings on the waysides.