United Nations finds Kerala's road is a model

Thiruvananthapuram: The Thiruvananthapuram City Road Project (TCRIP) has been selected by United Nations as a replicable Public Private Partnership model. TCRIP was one of the 12 PPP projects from across the world that found a place in the forum which has been shortlisted from the initial list of 47 projects that was first narrowed down to 30 high calibre PPP case studies that fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN Agenda 2030.

The 42.06 km TCRIP, an iconic project by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) has already been recognised as a great initiative by the World Bank in its document on Urban Infrastructure Projects as well as by International Road Federation for the best project in the world in the category of urban mobility.

In fact, the Union urban development ministry had advised the chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories to emulate TCRIP. It was iterated by Union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari when he came to inaugurate the Karamana– Kaliyikkavila bypass.

A proud Anilkumar Pandala, project director of Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company (TRDCL), concessionaire of TCRIP told this newspaper that he along with Dr Sreejith Naryanan of IL&FS showcased TCRIP at Geneva.
“We were asked to share the experiences and indices of the TCRIP at the UN headquarters, Geneva during the first working session of the team. It was indeed a rare recognition of Indian excellence and one we have every reason to be proud of,” said Anilkumar Pandala.

Thiruvananthapuram City Road Project (TCRIP) was launched by the KRFB in 2004 for a 15 year period at a whopping Rs 450 crore with the active participation of the state and the private sector. Apart from developing 42.06 km of city roads, it also strengthened the road surface, widened the roads in acquired portions, corrected geometric and vertical profiles, provided proper drainage facilities, enhanced pedestrian facilities such as footpaths and traffic islands, installed energy saving street lighting systems, landscaping and arboriculture.

The ongoing TCRIP has so far planted 2600 trees when the Detailed Project Report had promised only 1200 trees. Another highlight of the project is that due to solar powered signals, 0.12 tons per month of carbon dioxide emissions have been saved. Similarly, 29.7 MW of power is being saved due to advanced street lighting systems. Seeing the success of the TCRIP, Kerala Road Fund Board had decided to emulate it in Kozhikode, Kannur, Malappuram, Thrissur, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Kollam as well.