Travelling light
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s billed as the next big project for the capital city and a solution to its travel woes. The total cost of the Light Metro project will come to Rs 4,219 crore, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday.
Going by 2014 estimates, the total outlay for the project is Rs 3,453 crore, including Central taxes. The average cost for construction per kilometre is Rs 154.24 crore, the Chief Minister said in a written reply when the matter was raised in the Assembly by MLAs from the district K Muraleedharan, K S Sabarinathan and V S Sivakumar. Reports on the projects and relevant details have been submitted to the Centre along with the documents for the similar project planned in Kozhikode, he said.
Recently, the government had appointed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as consultant for the initial works related to this project. It was in August 2014 that the state government decided to replace the original monorail concept for the city with the Light Metro. In the capital, the Light Metro will connect the proposed Technocity and Karamana spanning a total distance of 22.53 km.
It will have around 19 stations in addition to fly-overs at three locations; Ulloor, Sreekaryam and Kazhakootam. Starting off from Technocity, the line will have stops at Pallippuram, Kaniyapuram, Kazhakootam, Kazhakootam junction, Karyavattom, Gurumandiram, Pangappara, Sreekariyam, Pongumoodu, Ulloor, Kesavadasapuram, Pattom, Plamoodu, Palayam, Secretariat, Thampanoor, Killipalam, and, finally, Karamana.
In June, the LDF government had announced its resolve to start the construction of the Light Metro at the earliest. On Monday, the Chief Minister said that the government intended to adopt the Kochi Metro model for the Light Metro in Thiruvananthapuram. Under this plan, the project will be implemented as a joint venture of the state and Central Governments. The Detailed Project Report has been completed, and it envisions that both governments would chip in with 20 per cent of the project cost.