The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will construct a Rs.4-crore bus terminal-cum-shopping complex in Kottayam and develop yards at four depots and a bay garage at Kaniyapuram.
The works totalling Rs.5.57 crore are being taken up by the ailing transport utility as part of development of infrastructure and modernisation of workshops and qualitative improvement of its 6,000-odd fleet.
The government gave administrative sanction for the works after the proposals put forward by the KSRTC were approved under Plan schemes by the Special Working Group recently.
With this, approval has been given for the entire Rs.65.42-crore Plan schemes pertaining to the KSRTC for the financial year 2014-15. A sum of Rs.59.85 crore was sanctioned in July this year for various works.
The yards to be developed by the KSRTC are in the Adoor, Kodungalloor, Vithura, and Kaniyapuram depots. A sum of Rs.25 lakh each has been sanctioned for the development of the yard at Adoor and Kodungaloor, Rs.42 lakh for Vithura, and another Rs.35 lakh for Kaniyapuram. In addition, a three-bay garage and garage yard is to be constructed at Kaniyapuram for Rs.30,000.
KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Antony Chacko said the new bus terminal in Kottayam would come on the premises of the existing bus station. “We are finalising the plans for the approval and the kickoff by October end,” he told The Hindu here.
As the KSRTC had burnt the fingers in constructing terminals under BOT with the Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation, the Kottayam project would be executed by the transport utility. The KSRTC has been asked not to park the funds in banks and to strictly follow the PWD schedule of rates for civil works. It has been directed not to create posts and purchase vehicles.
Source: The Hindu
