Kinalur: Minister, KSIDC defend four-lane road

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industry Minister Elamaram Kareem and KSIDC, in separate but almost similarly-worded statements, said that there were no plans to lay a 100-metre-wide road from Kozhikode to Kinalur. ``That there would be a 100-metre road is a falsehood,’’ Elamaram said. ``The 100-metre road campaign is totally baseless and is intended to scuttle development projects,’’ KSIDC said.

 The Minister said the plan was to adopt the road alignment option that was not just the most cost-effective but also required the displacement of the least number of families. The consultants, Wilbur Smith, had submitted four alignment options. ``How many metre width this road requires, or the extent of land that has to be acquired for the purpose, can be decided only after the survey,’’ Kareem said.

 Since the road would be constructed using government money, Kareem said it would be a public road. ``So the canard that it was a BOT road was an attempt to mislead the people,’’ he said.

 KSIDC’s intention was to construct a road that would affect the least number of houses and cause problems to the least number of people, the KSIDC statement said. ``Other than a four-lane road, KSIDC has not given anyone any specific directions on the width of the road. A final decision regarding the alignment and the extent of land to be acquired can be taken only after a survey,’’ the KSIDC note said.

 Both the Minister and KSIDC said a four-lane road to Kinalur from Kozhikode was mooted one-and-a-half years ago, after KSIDC signed an MoU with a Malaysian company, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).

 The Minister said Rs 25 crore had been earmarked for the purpose in the 2008-09 budget. Elamaram said the Malaysian company had backed out from the project because of the failure to construct the four-lane road.

 The KSIDC statement said such a road was inevitable to attract big investments like the one promised by the Malaysian company.

 The Minister said a company from the UAE had approached the KSIDC to set up a `Medicity’ in Kinalur. The UAE company visited Kinalur last month and had found the land suitable. A second round of discussion has been scheduled for May 17. ``This project is bigger than the one proposed by the Malaysian company. For such a project to materialise, road development is a must,’’ Elamaram said.  

 He said once the road was complete, it could lead to the further development of the Kinalur Industrial Estate. New investors could be attracted, he said. ``Sensing this possibility, I have asked the KSIDC to take steps to acquire the remaining land, nearly 1,800 acres, of the Cochin Malabar Estate. The directive was given on April 28,’’ Elamaram said.

 He added that this directive of the State Government would call the bluff of vested interests who had alleged that the road development had been proposed to help land sharks.

 The Industry Minister said the Kinalur incident had thrown up certain pertinent questions. Don’t we need investments in Kerala? What will be the future of our state if any project is marred by violence and controversies?

 Referring to the HMT land and Sobha Hi-tech controversies, Elamaram said projects that would have given jobs to three lakh youths in the state have been stalled by the anti-development brigade.