The Kerala government is exploring the possibility of constructing a mass rapid transit system for Kozhikode city. Earlier known as Calicut, it is the third largest city after capital city Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. The state government has appointed Kerala Road Fund Board as the nodal agency for the project.
Speaking to Projectmonitor, Joseph Mathews, Chief Engineer, KRFB, said that the detailed feasibility of the project would be first worked out for which consultants were being sought. The board would be accepting expressions of interest from domestic and international consultants up to February 9, followed by the issuance of requests for proposals, he noted.
The decision on which mode of transport would be deployed, whether metro rail or monorail etc. would be arrived at only after the feasibility of the MRTS is established. Mathews also maintained that it was premature to comment on the mode of implementation, whether EPC or PPP. Kerala Road Fund Board was set up in 2001 to mobilise financial resources for road development works in the state. It is part of the Kerala's public works department.
Coastal Kerala has a very high density of population of 818 persons per km2, which is more than twice the national average. Extensive water bodies take up most of the geographical land and rapid urbanization has put pressure on transport facilities. Kozhikode city has an estimated population of 4.4 lakh domiciled in 440 km2 of geographical area.
Kozhikode becomes the second city after Kochi to contemplate a mass rapid transit system. Meanwhile, the clouds of uncertainty on the Kochi metro rail project cleared last month with the state government proclaiming that it would do the project on EPC basis, on the lines of the Delhi metro rail project. The PPP route was suggested by the Oommen Chandey government (2004-06) and private developers like Reliance Infrastructure had also evinced interest. Projectmonitor, in January 2008, had exclusively said that Kerala might not pursue the PPP route for the Kochi metro rail project. Whatever little hope was left for the PPP route was killed by the now-controversial Hyderabad metro rail project. (See Projectmonitor, January 19-25, 2009, Satyam fiasco may hit PPP model for metro rail.)
Kochi metro rail
The Kochi metro rail project will be a 25-km fully-elevated corridor between Alwaye and Tripunthura, in Ernakulam district. Expected to cost over Rs 3,000 crore, the metro rail project will need an estimated 26 hectares of land. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is rendering project consultancy and has even prepared the project report. Port city Kochi is bracing for growth in traffic coming from large infrastructure projects like the Dubai Smart City and the Vallarapadam international transshipment terminal.
Source : www.projectsmonitor.com
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