THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Giving fresh hopes to the state capital’s aspirations in urban mobility, Finance Minister K N Balagopal announced on Friday that the long-awaited metro rail project will take off this year.
While presenting the state budget for 2025-26, the finance minister also announced the formation of a metropolitan planning committee for Thiruvananthapuram.
The indecision over the alignment proposed by the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL), and whether the network should be underground or elevated, are among the reasons why the Thiruvananthapuram metro project has been stuck. According to a source, the matter is under review with the finance department. “Constructing an underground metro rail network will be more expensive compared to an elevated system. The finance department has to take a final call on this as it impacts the project cost,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce and Industries (TCCI) president S N Reghuchandran Nair said there is no clarity on the metro project this year either. “For the past several years, the government has been repeating that the state capital will get a metro rail system.
The public is still in the dark about what kind of metro is being planned, its alignment. Also, the government has failed to show the progress of the projects announced in the previous budget,” Reghuchandran said. Another major project announced in the budget is the feasibility study for a ropeway at the Ponmudi hill station.
The budget has set aside Rs 50 lakh for conducting feasibility study for introducing a ropeway at Ponmudi. The metropolitan planning committee is one of the other highlights in the budget.
As per studies, in 2001, approximately 25.96 % of Kerala’s population resided in urban areas. In 2011, it increased to 47.72 %. It is expected that over 70 % of Kerala’s population will reside in urban areas by 2031. The metropolitan committee will formulate schemes to identify the issues faced by urban areas and plan development accordingly.
