The multi-thousand crore 'light metro' projects proposed for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode cities in Kerala will be implemented entirely in the public sector.
In taking this decision, the state government has bowed to the wishes of E Sreedharan, principal advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation who will be general consultants to the twin-project.
This put paid to the long-drawn controversy and heated public discussions over the choice of implementation model for which the state bureaucracy had insisted on the PPP mode.
In doing so, it had cited the apparent inability of the state to take up implementation of such a large project at a time when its finances are in poor shape.
Speaking to newspersons after a meeting with Sreedharan a short while ago, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that the state and central governments would equally contribute 40 per cent of the project costs.
JICA LOAN
The rest of the funds (less land costs and taxation) will be raised through a JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) loan bearing 0.5 per cent interest.
In this manner, the burden on the state will be comparatively less, the Chief Minister said citing Sreedharan's assurance in this connection.
The decision will now be referred to the state cabinet for approval. It comes on a day when the Chandy government has completed four years in office and is stepping into the fifth and last.
In Kochi, work on a full-fledged metro is currently on and is expected to be completed by June next. Monorail was the preferred first choice for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
LIGHT METRO
But the state government did not get a favourable response to the monorail tender. It is then that it opted for 'light metro.'
There is no significant difference between the metro and light metro except possibly in the size and extent of the command area served.
A metro serves a large metropolitan city while the light metro is used for smaller cities and deploys lightweight rail cars or even trams in the local networks.