The Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), a joint venture between the State and the Railways for executing viable projects on a cost-sharing basis, on Thursday said the State government has no plan to freeze the proposed SilverLine project.
Addressing Janasamaksham 2.0, an online interaction programme organised by K-Rail to address the apprehensions of people about the project, V. Ajithkumar, K-Rail managing director, said there was no going back on the project. The State government was going ahead with it and a social impact study was under way in areas where alignment stones had been laid.
The study will continue in the rest of the areas demarcated through geo-tagging, said Mr. Ajithkumar. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been extending both ‘tied and untied’ loans, he said.
The KRDCL is yet to take a decision on which loan to be taken. Normally, the interest rate of tied loans is relatively low – 0.1% to 0.2% – while that of untied loans ranges from 1% to 2%. The discussions in this regard are under way, said Mr. Ajithkumar.
Responding to a query, Mr. Ajithkumar said most of the projects in the country have taken tied loans considering the low interest rates. As per the provisions of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act – 2013 (LA Act), land can be acquired only after full payment of compensation. Similarly, the work can be started only after ensuring the rehabilitation of the affected.
It is not right to say that the Indian Railway network would suffer due to the SilverLine project. Instead, it will have a lot of advantages, according to M. Swayambhoolingam, project director of Systra, the general consultant appointed for preparing the detailed project report (DPR) of the SilverLine project.
In fact, more and more industries are coming to the State, and the work on the Vizhinjam port is nearing completion. Due to this, freight traffic will increase here significantly, which would benefit both the Indian Rail networks and the SilverLine which has plans to start roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) services. Further, all sections of society will benefit from the project, said Mr. Swayambhoolingam.
