THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The transport department has stepped in amid the delay to the ambitious project to build airstrips in Idukki, Wayanad, and Kasaragod, officially sanctioning the feasibility study more than two years after the process was first set in motion.
Cutting through bureaucratic hurdles, the department has issued the work order to Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board Consultancy-Rail India Technical and Economic Service (KIIFCON-RITES), a joint venture, authorising it to commence the feasibility study.
Although the JV had won the bid last June, the awarding of the work order was dragged out by procedural confusion, with Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL), the project management consultancy, insisting it had no powers to grant the order.
The department later found that a clause had been incorporated into the tender conditions without consulting the government. In an order, it criticised KRDCL for “improperly” inserting a restrictive clause that shifted the legal authority of issuing work orders back to the state. “The delay gave the impression that the government was dragging its feet on the project, which was not true,” said an official.
Earlier, the department asked the JV to expand its scope to include DPRs for five waterdromes across Kerala, but the partners termed the proposal financially unfeasible.