The Light Metro project mooted for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode will be further delayed. The board of Kerala Rapid Transit Limited (KRTL) chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Wednesday failed to take a call on the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in December 2017 as per the Central government’s revised Metro Policy-2017.
Official sources said the board would go ahead with the revised DPR only after looking into the feasibility of linking Technopark with the Technocity-Karamana light metro corridor.
Since the DMRC exited from the Light Metro project citing the inordinate delay, the feasibility study for linking Technopark will be entrusted to the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre. The report of a three-member committee led by Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Manoj Joshi that reviewed the feasibility of the MRTS in the wake of the ‘reworked’ DPR came up at the meeting.
Additional burden
The observations of the committee on the ridership and the additional burden on the State were discussed.
With the decision of the board, the revised DPR will have to wait for approval of the Cabinet and then will be forwarded to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
As per the revised DPR, the cost for laying Light Metro along 35.12 km in the two cities would go up by ₹700 crore from the earlier estimate of ₹6,728 crore.
The project for Thiruvananthapuram will cost ₹4,673 crore and ₹2,773 crore will be needed for Kozhikode.