Kochi metro rail board clears Rs 470 crore loan proposal

The board has approved a supplementary policy for providing rehabilitation and resettlement benefits to people affected by land acquisition

A meeting of the board of directors of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) today cleared a proposal for availing an additional term loan of Rs 470 crore from the Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank (DCB) for funding land acquisition for the project as well as for widening the Vyttila-Petta road here.

The KMRL board took the decision as the Kerala government has been unable to release funds for completing the land acquisition. This has affected metro’s works at several points. Earlier, the state government gave its nod to the board’s proposal to explore the possibility of taking a loan.

The loan will be subject to repayment by the government of Kerala from their annual budgetary provisions over a period of 12 years. It will be available at a floating interest rate of 9.95 per cent, which is linked to SBI’s base rate and with no attached charges, including processing fee.

Shankar Aggarwal, state secretary -urban development and chairman of KMRL, presided over the meeting held today in Delhi.

The board also accepted the operations and maintenance strategy for the project, where key technical functions would be undertaken by inhouse manpower, while services like customer-facing services, cleaning, station maintenance and upkeep of facilities would be outsourced.

It was also decided that there would be a focus on inducting women employees wherever feasible, including in key functions of operations and maintenance. The board has approved a supplementary policy for providing rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) benefits to people affected by land acquisition by approving a scheme that aims to offer preference to one person per affected family for filling up the vacancies that shall arise.

It  agreed to the proposal to permit small merchants and commercial establishments displaced by alignment to have the ‘Right of first refusal’ in the location of the commercial spaces developed by the KMRL. This will be limited to one commercial space per affected establishment.

Further, it also cleared developing a modern water transport system for the Greater Kochi region, including the introduction of modern water-craft, renovation of boat-jetties and provision of connectivity between the boat-jetties, bus and metro stations.

Besides, it took note of the fact the funding agencies, namely, the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) having expressed interest in funding the project, and acknowledged that the detailed project report (DPR) was under preparation for submission to the Union government and the funding agencies.

It is expected that the DPR would be ready by the first week of February so that the project can be formally posed for funding.

The board also took note of agreements between the KMRL and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for the creation of a common mobility card which can be used for ticketing and for consumer purposes.

The meeting approved the proposal for engaging a competent agency for providing consultancy services aimed at discovering and determining fare options in a multi-modal transit environment. The study is expected to contribute towards finalising the fare-fixation principles of Kochi metro rail as well as for the entire Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) system.

The board also took note of the commitment made by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for accelerating the works to ensure the revenue operations from Aluva to the Maharaja's College commence in June 2016. Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, Urban Development and Chairman, KMRL presided over the meeting, held today in Delhi.