The elevated Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode had been abandoned and instead Light Metro had been mooted for the two cities of the State.
The decision was taken by the director board of Kerala Monorail Corporation Ltd. (KMCL) chaired by the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy here on Thursday. The board abandoned the monorail citing the prohibitive cost quoted by Bombardier Transportation Holdings USA Inc.
Minister for Public Works, V. K. Ebrahim Kunju told The Hindu that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, who was the general consultant for the monorail project, had been asked to submit the Detailed Project Report for Light Metro in four weeks.
The board went by the DMRC report and Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan’s advice to reject the lone tender submitted by the consortium for selecting the “exclusive developer contractor.” The decision to reject the tender was unanimous, he said.
The DPR prepared by the DMRC has put the estimate for the project in two cities at Rs.5,581 crore. The consortium had quoted Rs.10,392 crore, including Rs.527 crore for maintenance, in the financial bid.
The project area and alignment will remain the same for Light Metro. Global tenders will be floated after the DMRC submits the DPR, he added.
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