Title - Kochi : Metro works to get a boost with nominations to director board

The land acquisition and other works for the Kochi metro rail project is set to get an impetus with the State government nominating four of its five representatives to the project’s Director Board on Tuesday.The Principal Secretary (Power and Transport) Elias George, who is also the KSEB chairman would replace Tom Jose as the MD of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), while the Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary and Law Secretary would be its other members.The State has to nominate another member. The Centre had nominated the Union Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna as the ex-officio chairman of the KMRL Board, while S. K. Lohia, Officer on Special Duty (Urban Transport); Jitendra Thyagi, Director (Works) of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC); D. D. Pahuja, Director (Rolling Stock, Signalling and Electrical) of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation and A K Gupta, Additional Member (Works) of the Railway Board are the other nominees.“The land acquisition for the project will get a boost since the Chief Secretary has been nominated as a member of the board,” said sources.His presence will also ensure better coordination with State government departments.He is also a member of the central empowered committee for mass rapid transport systems like the metro-rail. This is expected to further speed up the project, they said. The land for the project has to be acquired by December 2012.Referring to the differences of opinion with the KMRL, they said that the DMRC hopes to overcome the stumbling blocks for speeding up the works.“The State government has demanded that the project be completed in three years time. The nomination of members to the KMRL’s Director Board by the State and Centre is expected to speed up the long-pending works.”The inadequate coordination between the two agencies had resulted in duplication of many works resulting in wastage of funds, time and human resources. They included the designs for the metro stations and the tree-planting drive to compensate the felling of trees for widening roads.A DMRC official said that the first point in the Board’s agenda would be the signing of an MoU between the two agencies so that the works are demarcated.“Back in February, the State government had agreed that the DMRC would be the consultant and executing agency for the project. This was reiterated in the meeting held in July first week (following the Centre granting its nod for the project) in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. But the government order is not yet ready.”The different work culture of the two agencies further compounded matters.The DMRC is attuned to awarding contracts for civil works even before land is fully acquired, to prevent delays and cost overruns.Its Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan had said that each day’s delay in commissioning the project would increase cost of the project by Rs. 30 lakh. The project cost has already risen from Rs 2,239 crore in 2005 to Rs 5,182 crore now.

EXORBITANT FEE
Reacting to the charge that the DMRC charged exorbitant consultation fee, the official said that the fee would be six per cent of the project cost which is nominal.On the delay in releasing the logo for the project, he said that it can be done anytime before the metro is commissioned.Sources said that the MoU with DMRC is expected to be signed after a few differences are ironed out.“A few points raised by the departments of finance and law have to be addressed. The new MD will have a crucial say in the issue. He was closely associated with the paper works to obtain the Centre’s sanction for the project, in his position as Special Commissioner (Industries).”Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Elias George said that he will do his best to speed up the work on the project. He served as the Commissioner of Kochi Corporation over two decades ago. “I love the city and consider it a great honour to do something for the city.”On cementing the relationship with DMRC, Mr. George said that he will take officials of the agency along and work in close collaboration with them.