NEW DELHI:Chief Minister Oommen Chandy held discussions with Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu here on Friday for getting the Central Government’s approval for the proposed Light Metro projects in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.
At the meeting, Chandy stressed the need for implementing the Light Metro projects in Kochi and Kozhikode urgently, and discussed extension of the Kochi Metro Rail. The Chief Minister, who was accompanied by State Public Works Department Minister V K Ebrahim Kunju and Kochi Metro Rail Project principal advisor E Sreedharan, talked to the Union Minister for more than 40 minutes.
Welcoming the proposal for the Light Metro projects, he said the Ministry would initiate the necessary actions once Kerala submits the report. “If Kerala submits a detailed report on the Light Metro projects, we would take action on it without any delay,” Naidu said after the meeting. Oommen Chandy, meanwhile, assured Naidu that a new report would be submitted within one week.
The Kerala Government had written to the Centre regarding the Light Metro projects on September 11, stating that the twin projects would be taken up on the lines of the Kochi Metro project. The State and the Centre are supposed to bear 20 per cent of the cost each, while the remaining 60 per cent will be raised through borrowings.
The Kerala Government needs mandatory approval from the Centre to kick off the Rs 6,728-crore project.
“During the discussion, Naidu also raised the issue of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with the Chief Minister,” spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban Development told ‘Express’. The Union Minister told Chandy that though the Kerala Government did a good job in the rural areas under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the same enthusiasm was not seen in the urban pockets, and called for steps to address the issue.