Ker govt to allocate Rs 40,000 crore to KIIFB this year

Kerala government would allocate Rs 40,000 crore to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board this year to take forward key infrastructure development projects.
"In its first two budgets, the government had already allotted Rs 50,000 crore for Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) towards various projects", Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in his inaugural address at a National seminar here on 'Opportunities and Challenges in Public Infrastructure Financing'.
Of these, KIIFB has already submitted an estimated Rs 2,612 crore-worth of project proposals.
All the doubts about the initiative that were raised during its initial stages have now been eradicated, he said.

Other than the financial assurances provided, the government has established KIIFB's credibility within the short span of one year, Vijayan said.
The high-profile summit brought together top policymakers, representatives of financial sector regulatory bodies, senior bank officials, merchant bankers and senior government officials in charge of public financial institutions and development corporations.

"KIIFB is a public welfare model that has been put forward as an alternative to new economic reforms that tends to privatise even basic development projects", he said.
Under KIIFB's aegis, several infrastructural development projects, including various electricity harnessing projects estimated at rs 5200 crore, crucial to Kerala's growth are in progress which will help the state tide over the energy crisis, the chief minister said.

Other ongoing vital projects funded through KIIFB include Rs 1,781 crore towards PWD works, Rs 272 crore for proposed light metro rail, Rs 1,700 crore for the industrial sector, Rs 351 crore for the IT sector, Rs 1,690 crore for water resources department, Rs 968 crore for health and family welfare, Rs 678 crore for education, Rs 74 crore for pre-metric hostel, Rs 45 crore for working women hostel, among others.
"The projects currently in progress can be completed within four years only if we plan and execute according to the laws, regulations and scope of the investment funding sector," he said.

In his address, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the state government had allocated Rs 12,000 crore to KIIFB for highways along coastal areas and high ranges. "Presently, the scope of fund raising for infrastructural development projects lies with capital market. KIIFB is the answer for this process," the minister said. Collecting toll for revenue is not a feasible model in Kerala he said speaking at a national-level seminar on "Opportunities and Challenges in Public Infrastructure Financing. Currently, various development projects estimated at Rs 6,000 crore have been sanctioned by KIIFB and are ready to be tendered. KIIFB is now moving to the next step," the minister said.