Going back on its promise, the state government decided to go ahead with the Sabari Rail project by financing the project from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). To make the project a reality, the state will also press the Center that the loan incurred by KIIFB for the project should be fully exempted from the state’s debt limit.
This decision was taken at a meeting held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Earlier, according to the suggestion of the Union Railway Minister, the province had decided to enter into a tripartite agreement to implement the project. An agreement between the state government, the Ministry of Railways and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will ensure that Kerala’s share will be paid to the Ministry of Railways if the state fails to pay its share of the project cost. Cut time and money from the central portion of support to Kerala for various schemes.
With the state rejecting the offer of a tripartite agreement with the RBI, the future of the project is now likely to depend on the Supreme Court case, in which Kerala challenged the Centre’s decision to cut its borrowing. Kerala had been demanding the relaxation of borrowing restrictions from the central government to enable the state to borrow more funds.
The meeting also cleared other doubts about the project. For example, the state will request the Center to implement the project in two phases. Stating that this project would be a good option for the Chengannur-Pamba railway which is being considered by the Centre, the meeting suggested to complete the first phase of the project in Angamaly-Erumeli-Nilakkal section. Also, the meeting was of the opinion that one line up to Sabarimala would be sufficient for the time being and the proposal to double the line in the second phase could be considered.
Emphasizing that the project has great potential to help the development of the province, the meeting suggested to extend the project to Vizhinjam in the future. The 110 km Angamaly-Erumeli route was first announced in the Railway Budget 1997-98. After that, 8 km land acquisition was completed and 7 km section from Angamaly to Kaladi was already completed. A notice has been issued for the acquisition of the remaining 70 km. Now the state will have to bear half of the revised estimate of ₹3,810.69 crore.
published – 17th December, 2024 at 09:00 hrs IST