The cash-strapped Kerala government will request the Centre to explore the possibility of exempting royalty on earth/boulders and reimbursement of the State Goods and Services Tax component on the National Highway projects — Ernakulam Bypass and Kollam-Shenkottai NH — in the State.
The State has earlier requested the Centre to waive the proposed 25% State share of land acquisition cost for these two projects. In its reply, the Centre has sought inter-alia certain exemptions from the State government, including GST and royalty, for the construction material.
A meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had decided to meet Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday to take up the issues. The Chief Minister will also take up the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project under the Capital Region Development Programme.
Sources said the State had earlier agreed for sharing 50% cost of land acquisition, 100% cost of the service road, and exemption of State GST and royalty for the Thiruvananthapuram Outer Ring Road section of NH-866. In the current milieu, the State would seek exemption from shouldering 50% State share of land acquisition cost and reimbursement of State GST and royalty.
The State government had already agreed to share 25% cost of land acquisition, amounting to ₹4,440 crore for the upcoming three greenfield NH projects in Kerala – four laning of Palakkad-Kozhikode section of NH-966, four-laning greenfield road from Kochi to Tamil Nadu Border section of NH-85, and four-laning Thiruvananthapuram - Kottarakara - Kottayam – Angamali (MC Road).
Also, the State had agreed to share 25% cost of land acquisition amounting to ₹5,748 crore for 16 ongoing projects on NH-66, of which ₹5,581 crore had been deposited. Considering the huge share of Kerala for land acquisition in NH development, the Chief Minister had decided to request the Union Minister for reimbursing GST and sparing the State from collecting royalty for construction materials.
As per the ‘Request For Proposal’ (RFP) issued by the National Highways Authority of India, the construction of four-lane Thiruvananthapuram Outer Ring Road (ORR) - Package-I from Navaikulam to Thekkada (design length-29.25 km) on hybrid annuity model under Bharatmala Pariyojana is estimated to cost ₹1,478.31 crore.
Similarly, construction of ORR Package- II from Thekkada to Vizhinjam (design length- 33.40 km) is estimated to cost ₹1,489.15 core. As per the draft concession agreement issued along with the tender documents, the construction period is 910 days followed by 15 years of operation for both packages.
