Kerala nod to DMRC on twin 'light metro' projects; rejects PPP mode.

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.

HBL