KOCHI: Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) has sought revised administrative sanction from the state government for the Phase II project following an increase in costs due to delays in obtaining approvals.
The Rs 1,957.05 crore project received approval only in November 2022 though the DPR was submitted in January 2019, KMRL sources said. Permission to avail the loan for the project followed in June 2023, during which period the base cost and taxes increased that pushed up the overall project cost.
Meanwhile, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has sanctioned a loan of Rs 1,016.24 crore for the project, expressed satisfaction with the progress of construction and indicated its willingness for further cooperation. A high-level AIIB team visited Kochi for three days to review the project’s physical and financial progress.
The 11.20-km corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to SmartCity via Kakkanad is under construction. Around 6.5 km of the viaduct has been completed, while work on tracks, signalling, telecommunications, lifts and escalators is progressing. Land acquisition for road development and the renovation of drains and footpaths has been completed, while acquisition for metro stations and other project components is in its final stages.
The AIIB team reviewed construction safety, work contracts, land acquisition, environmental management, climate resilience measures, fund utilisation, contributions from the central and state governments and the loan utilisation period. The team also visited the Phase II corridor, the metro casting yard and a labour camp in Kalamassery.
The review meeting was chaired by KMRL MD G Priyanka. The bank’s representatives included Neeraja Shukla, Shiva Ramakrishna Shastri, Khaliqa Mohammed and Jatin Arora. KMRL directors M P Ram Navas, Sanjay Kumar and Ravindra Kumar Pathak also attended.