The World Bank will intervene to bring down the 4,000-odd fatalities annually in the road corridors in the State and on the road safety agenda.
The intervention is after the Round Table on Road Safety organised here as part of the Interim Mission on the ongoing Bank- funded Kerala State Transport Project Phase II. The Bank has evinced interest in supporting the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) to prioritise the road safety initiatives in the State.
In addition to the 78.65-km safe corridor demonstration project from Kazhakuttam in the NH 66 to Adoor on M.C. Road being executed in KSTP II, the bank is keen on road safety initiatives for the entire State.
At the Round Table attended by Karla Gonzalez Carvajal, Practice Manager, Transport, Arnab Bandopadhyay, Lead Transport Specialist, World Bank and others, the State’s ambitious project to set up trauma centres and proposals for road safety initiatives by nine District Collectors came up.
The meeting was attended by the Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Rajeev Sadanandan; Secretary, Transport, K.R. Jyothilal; Special Secretary, Public Works, Biju Prabhakar; IGP Traffic Manoj Abraham; Joint Transport Commissioner Rajeev Puthalath; and KSTP Director Ajith Patel.
“The savings from the project and other funds will be used.
The KRSA has been asked to collate initiatives and involve the stakeholders. VicRoads of Australia will come up with a framework in three months”, according to road safety experts privy to the mission.
The ongoing KSTP II project traverses 87 villages, covering about 13.4 million people, of which more than 50% are women.
Under KSTP I, upgrade of 254 km of roads and maintenance of another 1,150 km of roads were taken up.
Travel time on these roads reduced by 20 % and the road user surveys showed an increased level of satisfaction.