The City Road Improvement Project (CRIP), which was bringing a major makeover to the city, has come to a standstill.
The government’s laxity in releasing Rs 19 crore of the arbitration amount of Rs 124.947 crore has put the concessionaire, Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL), in a fix. As a result, the work remaining on the second and third phases of CRIP has been stuck.
The TRDCL has been receiving arbitration amount in instalments. It has been pressing for the release of the remaining Rs 19 crore for the past one year. However, the Finance Department has not cleared the release. In view of the financial crisis, banks too have stopped sanctioning loans to TRDCL.
Work progressed after the IL&FS Transportation Networks Limited (ITNL) pumped some amount for the work. Unable to continue with the financial crisis, the TRDCL has decided to stop work.
The executive committee of the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the implementing agency of CRIP, had recently met to discuss the issue. “We have requested the government to release some advance amount,” said P C Harikesh, chief operating officer of KRFB.
TRDCL was awarded the work in March 24 in an agreement to complete development of 42 km city roads in 30 months. However, the work got delayed mainly because the government failed to hand over land.
The entire stretch of land required for the project was to be handed over before November 2005. However, only about 14 km was actually handed over, leading to a pre-termination notice by TRDCL in July 2006. Following the delay, the TRDCL claimed compensation on grounds of extended stay. The matter was referred to an Arbitration Tribunal, which granted an award of Rs 124.947 crore in favour of TRDCL.
“We are not going for litigation. We want to complete the project at any cost,” said Anil Kumar Pandala, project director, TRDCL.
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