Shying from a fully autonomous special purpose vehicle (SPV) has pushed the Kochi metro rail project back by a good 10 months. This has already logged a Rs 100 crore cost escalation for the Rs 3,008-crore project.
The project’s irked consultant, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), has shot off an angry missive to the Kerala government on the lack of autonomy for the SPV that stymied the tender procedures. The Kochi Metro project office is now overweighed by the burden of a having to get clearances from various arms of the state government.
The DMRC had mooted technology-neutral bids for Kochi Metro in the public-private participation mode. Although Reliance Energy, Gammon India and Vadodara Bombardiar Transportation were shortlisted from about 12 bidders in June, these firms are yet to get cracking on the job. The financial evaluation of these companies is yet to be complete, sources told FE.
When first proposed in 2003, the project was estimated to cost Rs 1,966 crore. An elevated light rail blueprint, the project in Kochi needs minimum land acquistion. Had the Kochi Metro project started its initial work in January 2007, as per schedule, by 2011 it would have been complete on an investment of Rs 2,239 crore.
One may recall that Kerala Planning Board vice-chairman and JNU professor, Prabhat Patnaik, had expressed doubts over the financial viability of Kochi Metro. Later, it took chief minister VS Achuthanandan, who was impressed by a ride on Delhi Metro, to kick-start the project again. What lagged was the empowering of the SPV.
It does seem now that Patnaik’s pessimism on Kochi Metro was more prophetic than the chief minister’s populist words. Kochi is awaiting Rs 10,000-crore investment and has been crying for transport infrastructure. One organisation that’s not amused with all this is DMRC, which is dividing its consultancy time among Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi Metro projects, before taking up other city plans.