RailEnquiry

The ambitious high-speed rail corridor project in the state has got a shot in the arm with the World Bank expressing its willingness to associate with the project.Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the Infrastructure Conference 2012, here on Thursday, Simon Ellis, Senior Transport Economist, South East Asia, Sustainable Development, World Bank said that the bank is ready to associate with the project if they receive a proposal from the state government.“We have not received any proposal from the Kerala government so far,” he told Express.Billed as the biggest and most expensive infrastructure project conceived by Kerala, the high-speed rail corridor project, on implementation, will enable one to travel from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod in 142 minutes, covering a distance of 526 km.The estimated cost of the project is Rs 1,18,000 crore. The first phase is expected to cost Rs 43,000 crore.He added that though world bank is mainly associated with road projects in the country they are willing to finance rail projects also as they have experience in associating with rail projects in countries like Brazil.Commenting on the infrastructure problems prevailing in the state, Simon Ellis said that it is important to choose which model suits the state more “In Kerala the infrastructure projects should be a proper mix of Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model and Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Quality should be maintained right from the the initial stage of building roads. Three factors are very important for building quality roads - a feasibility study, structure design and effective supervision,”he said.