A disagreement arose between the Centre and the Kerala government on Thursday over sharing the expense of NH development.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said in the Parliament that the cost for developing 1 km of NH in Kerala was around Rs 100 crore, and even though Kerala earlier assured to meet 25 per cent of the land acquisition cost, the state government has now informed that it was not in a position to meet the expenses.
However, Gadkari, later in Thiruvananthapuram to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 12 NH development projects worth Rs 40,453 crore, softened his stand stating that the issue could be sorted out through discussions. He also suggested handing over government land free of cost for NH widening and GST exemption on steel and cement used for NH construction.
Thanking the Left Front government for its cooperation in NH development, the Union minister said that by 2025 Kerala would have roads of international standards.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had recently stated in the Assembly that the state offered to bear a share of the land coast of the ongoing NH widening activities as compensation for the delay in land acquisition. He had also said that the NHAI's stand that the state should bear a share in all future work could not be accepted, and such a practice was not there in any state.
Vijayan, who also attended the NH development projects' inauguration, said there was no rift between the Centre and the state over sharing the cost, and all issues would be settled through deliberations.
A 2.7 km fly-over on the NH near Thiruvananthapuram Technopark and a tunnel road at Thrissur were among the projects formally inaugurated by the Union Minister on Thursday.
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