The Kerala State Transport Project-Phase II has been able to achieve physical progress of 89.90% in road upgradation in four packages and financial progress of 87.89%.
The World Bank-aided Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) is coming to an end in April 2021.
The overall disbursement as of June 2020 is $111.71 million which is 91.1% of the overall loan amount of $121 million committed in component, as per the half-yearly progress report for January-June 2020 prepared by the project management team of the KSTP.
The project envisages upgradation of 363 km of State highways (SH) and main district roads (MDR), road safety management, and institutional strengthening of the Public Works Department. The total project cost is $445 million, of which $216 million is loan assistance from the World Bank.
The loan effectiveness date is September 6, 2013. The project implementation period was fixed for five years, up to December 31, 2018 but now stands extended to April 2021 and the expected loan closing date April 30, 2021.
Strengthening of the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) has been completed and the safe corridor demonstration project (SCDP) from Thycode near Kazhakuttam to Adoor completed as part of the KSTP Phase II.
Consultancy for road user perception survey has been completed for 363 km of project roads through Sherwood Consultants and report had been shared with the World Bank.
Consultancy for prioritisation and detailed project report (DPR) preparation for 1,000 km of improvement of State roads was entrusted with Egis India Consulting Engineers and the final report is ready. The DPR for the first 439 km has been completed. The preliminary project report for 1,106 km was submitted to the government for posting for external financial assistance.
Consultancy for strategic option study (SOS) for 8,570 km newly declared MDR was completed by CDM Smith Associates. The study report has been handed over to the PWD and action to improve these roads will be taken using its own funds.
Consultancy service for developing multi-model integrated transport hub at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode was completed and report is with the government.
The strategic road network programme was replaced with key proposals as per the priorities of the government. Development of the Kerala Highway Research Institute into a centre of excellence on road safety and asset management, development of public information management system integrating the existing public information cell, the WINGS portal of PWD, figure among them.