Govt gives Rs 66-crore push for NH widening

Jisha Surya
February 12, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: With Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the state government has given technical sanction for Rs 66 crore to widen Karamana-Pravachambalam stretch of the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila stretch. The NH wing of state PWD will upload the tender documents online on Wednesday. Tender is expected to be opened by first week of March.

Though the PWD is rushing to get things done, the election commission is expected to issue notification by the end of this month. “If the election commission issues notification, we have to take the commission’s approval to proceed with the work,” said a senior official of NH wing.

The detailed project report of the phase I of the project from Karamana to Pravachambalam was revised by incorporating suggestions of the technical committee of PWD. The revised DPR has an estimated cost of Rs 66 crore against the initial cost of Rs 74 crore.

Meanwhile, revenue officials are proceeding with land acquisition on the Neeramankara-Pappanamcode stretch. PWD officials said the land acquisition is progressing without any delay. “We could begin works only when 80% of land is acquired,” a PWD official said.

Meanwhile, all is not well with the land acquisition, according to people facing eviction. The Karamana-Kaliyikkavila National Highway Action Council alleged that the disbursal of fund was stuck after new land acquisition policy came into effect. “Now officials said that they are waiting for legal opinion on whether the rates fixed by DLPC will be valid. If there is no clarity in a week, the people will stage a dharna in front of the secretariat,” action council general secretary Mannankal Ramachandran said.

The stone laying ceremony to widen 30km road from Karamana to Kaliyikkavila was held in 2010. However, the project was stuck on land acquisition hurdles. The project got revived recently when the government successfully conducted a district level purchase committee meeting to fix land value.


Busy trade for HC advocates

A recent high court order giving tax exemptions to compensation for land acquired for Kochi Metro project has become a boon for advocates in high court. A number of people, who agreed to give their land for Karamana-Kaliyikkavila project, have moved HC demanding tax exemptions. When around 40 people received favourable court order, advocates have managed to get more and more clients. “Each person is charged between Rs 3,000 and 4,000. Now, people are planning to file group petitions,” said an action council member. He added that the petitions of around 45 people are pending with the court.

Only four slaughter houses offer safe meat

Jisha Surya / TNN
February 10, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: No one can ensure that meat you buy for cooking is safe to eat. The Food Safety officials have closed down nearly 84 slaughter houses in the state. Only four legal slaughter houses in the state have got a clearance. Scores of illegal slaughter houses which work in odd hours have escaped the raid which held last week.

Not just private abattoirs, Food Safety officials closed down slaughter houses operated by local bodies. In Kochi alone, 23 slaughter houses, including the one operated by Corporation in Kaloor, were closed down. In Thiruvananthapuram, all 6 legal abattoirs were closed down.

Slaughter houses working under Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in Mannuthy, Meat Products of India Limited in Koothattukulam in Ernakulam, Brahmagiri Development Society in Wayanad and a private slaughter house in Palakkad are the few which follow Food Safety and Standard Regulations.

D Sivakumar, Assistant Commissioner, Food Safety enforcement, said that the department decided to close down the abattoirs after they failed to improve conditions after serving notices two months ago. “This is the second raid in two months. None of these abattoirs took mandatory food safety licence. They will be given time to improve condition and take license once they respond to the closure notice,” he said.

However, Food Safety officials could not cover a number of butcher shops were animals are slaughtered illegally during odd hours. “Most of these illegal butcher shops work between 1 am and 4 am. They also change shops often to evade inspection. There is still no record of the number of unauthorised butcher shops in the state,” said a Food Safety official on condition of anonymity. The official said that minimum Rs 25 crore is required to set up a slaughter houses in proper food safety standards.

“Slaughter houses must ensure service of a veterinary surgeon to do anti-mortem and post-mortem of the animal. Meat could be processed only after getting clearance of veterinary surgeon,” said a Food safety official.

Part IV of Schedule II of Food Safety and Standards Regulation sets a 29-point regulation for slaughter houses.

According to Food Safety regulation, the slaughter house must have animal holding yard, lairage, slaughter hall, side halls for hide collection, paunch collection, offals collection, and separation, holding room for suspected carcass, by-product harvesting, refrigeration room etc. “Separate space shall be provided for stunning (Wherever applicable), for collection of blood and for dressing of the carcasses. The slaughtering of an animal shall not be done in the sight of other animals. The dressing of the carcass shall not be done on the floor. Suitable hoists will be provided to hang the carcass before it is eviscerated,” the rules states.

NHAI issues request for proposal for bidders

Jisha Surya
February 10, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: In a significant move, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has issued request for proposal for bidders selected for widening of NH bypass from Kazhakkoottam to Mukkola. The five bidders selected by NHAI will be given time till March 21 to submit proposals.

Five companies - KNR Constructions Ltd., Dileep Build Con Ltd., RDS PNC (joint venture), IL&FS Transportation Ltd. and Oriental Structural Engineers Pvt. Ltd.- have been shortlisted by the NHAI after initial screening for construction of the stretch on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

NHAI officials said that the announcement of Lok Sabha elections will not impede the tender process as the project has already been sanctioned by the Union government.

The company, which wins the bid, will have to develop the stretch through public private partnership (PPP) on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The scope of work includes upgradation and widening of the existing carriageway to four-lane standards. The width of carriageway will be 45 metre.

Recently, the public private partnership approval committee (PPPAC) under the department of economic affairs cleared the proposal for Rs 577-crore project. The PPPAC meeting gave approval for viability gap funding worth Rs 231.18 crore for the project. In VGF, Union government will bear a share of the total project cost. The bidders will be selected based on who needs the least VGF support.

NHAI officials said the entire time period for completion of projects is 36 months.

The widening of Kazhakkoottam-Mukkola stretch has been stuck since 1969. The land acquisition is not a hurdle on the first stretch till Mukkola as the land was acquired for 45 metre widening around 45 years ago.

The NHAI proposal is to develop 43km from Kazhakkoottam to Karode. Though tender process for widening first half of the NH bypass is progressing, land acquisition for next half from Mukkola to Karode is stuck. The decision of state level empowered committee to reject the value fixed by district level purchase committee has become a setback for the land acquisition process on Mukkola-Karode stretch. In protest against the SLEC decision, the NH Bypass action council has staged a protest meeting in front of the secretariat on Friday.

Chengannoor-Ettumanoor stretch road work bid stuck

Jisha Surya/TNN
February 10, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: The bidding process for the work on Chengannoor-Ettumanoor stretch of the MC road, under the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), has run into trouble with the World Bank shooting down the works department move to award the work to a bidder who quoted 16% more than the estimated value.

The steering committee, chaired by chief secretary E K Bharat Bhushan, had earlier found that first bidder NAPC Ltd failed in clearing the qualification criteria and second bidder Essar-Sacyr consortium had not submitted the performance guarantee in time. Sources said the World Bank had favoured giving more time to Essar that sought time till January 20 to submit the performance guarantee. The KSTP was, however, not in favour of giving more time and the consortium was asked to submit it by December 31 last year.

The consortium said in a letter to the project director that its representatives had reached the KSTP office on January 20 to submit the performance bank guarantee but was told that the government had decided to award the contract to the third bidder -- DELMA-Sree Dhanya constructions. A file inspection by TOI under the provisions of section 4 of RTI also revealed that the steering committee had met on January 20 and decided to award contract to the third bidder after Essar-Sacyr failed to submit bank guarantee in the stipulated time.

Senior KSTP officials said the consortium did submit the bank guarantee but after the stipulated time. “The World Bank has objected to the decision to award contract to the third bidder. A decision will be taken at the next steering committee meeting on February 13,” one of them said. The award of the contract to the third bidder will result in a loss of Rs 28 crore to the exchequer while the work could be delayed by at least four months if the KSTP goes for a re-tender.

Essar-Sacyr had sought time to submit the bank guarantee in a letter dated January 8 while the government encashed the bid security on January 15. The consortium had also sent all necessary details such as scanned copies of performance guarantees, power of attorney and consortium agreement to the KSTP on January 21.

Sources in works department said the KSTP was not satisfied with the performance of Essar, which was awarded the contract for work on Thalassery-Valavupara stretch under KSTP phase II in June. They said works were yet to begin on the stretch even seven months after awarding the contract.

Alappuzha, Kollam bypasses may be toll roads

Jisha Surya
February 6, 2013

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union and State government's agreement on 50:50 fund sharing for Kollam and Alappuzha bypasses was a good news to the state. Such a fund sharing was first of its kind in the country. However, it is not clear whether the bypasses will have toll like similar National Highways. While the state government is against introducing tolls in the bypasses, Central government wants to collect toll for its share of fund.

State and Union government have decided to share Rs. 267.16 crore and Rs. 255.75 crore for Kollam and Alappuzha bypasses respectively. The MoU for fund sharing was signed at New Delhi last month. However, state government's stand against imposing toll has not gone well with the Centre. According to sources in PWD, Central government wants to impose toll for their share of fund. "No consensus was formed on the issue of toll. This will be decided only later," the PWD official said.

PWD has selected bidders for the development of the bypasses. "Tender was opened on January 21 and we have selected two lowest bidders for both bypasses. Now we are assessing the qualification of the bidders. We hope to award tender within a week," official said.

Construction of Kollam and Alappuzha bypasses was part of the National Highway Development Projects (NHDP) Phase III, which had to be implemented by the National Highway Authority of India in Kerala. However, NH widening works were stuck following hurdles in land acquisition in the state. Following this, State government approached Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to take up construction of bypasses as separate project.

The estimated cost for two lane Kollam bypass is Rs. 267.16 crore and Alappuzha bypass is Rs. 255.75 crore. Two lane bypasses will be made in Kollam and Alappuzha initially and four-lane will be developed later as part of NHDP. Introduction of toll in two lane roads, which lacks service roads, will be a trouble for local commuters.

The 6.8-km Alappuzha bypass starts at Kommady and ends at Kalarkode It will have two ROBs and an elevated stretch of highway at beach portion. The 13-km Kollam bypass starts at Kavanad and ends at Mevaram. It will have 3 bridges and one underpass.

Attakulangara project may materialize with minimum tree felling

Jisha Surya
February 06, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: Pressure is mounting against the Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority (Trida) to drop its proposed bus terminal-cum-shopping complex project at the premises of Government Central School, Attakulangara.

However, Trida is not ready to give in. As the chief protest is against felling of trees at the site, the authority has roped in environmentalists to sort the issue. Upon Trida’s request, architect R Shankar is preparing a design for the project, which ensures minimum felling of trees. Shankar said his tentative design requires felling only 6 trees instead of 47 to accommodate the bus terminal and shopping complex in the two acre space.

Shankar said he inspected the site recently. “Over 40 trees will be affected by the project. However, we have to consider other factors as well. The project will help resolve the traffic congestion caused by the bus stand at East Fort. Earlier, bus terminal projects had been proposed at Muttathara and Eanchakkal, but nothing materialized,” he said.

According to Shankar, the project has several benefits. “By rehabilitating traders, the heritage wall from Pazhavangadi to East Fort can be protected and the area could be beautified with proper landscaping. Rehabilitation of traders for Thakarapparambu flyover has also been planned at the site,” he said. “I heard there have been suggestions to develop the site as a biodiversity park. If so, how many people will visit the place,” he asked. He said the case calls for a give-and-take approach.

When asked whether the new plan will lead to changes in the original requirement, Shankar said the complex will have over 100 shops and the bus terminal could accommodate nearly 25 buses. “According to the initial plan, around 47 trees needed to be axed. With the new design, we will lose only 6 trees,” he said.

Trida chairman P K Venugopal said they will conduct a meeting with Shankar within a week to discuss the design.

Meanwhile, various organizations and parties such as the Aam Admi Party (AAP) are up in arms against the project. The Kerala Historical Research Institute had even asked the governor that the land be handed over to them to develop a campus.