Konkan Railway's chief defends Skybus project EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
Mumbai, July 16 2003 The Managing Director of Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC), Dr B Rajaram, has rubbished the claims of former KRC chief, E Sreedharan, who has openly called the Skybus project as "unviable" and "misleading". Talking to *The Indian Express*, Rajaram said: "I have full respect for Sreedharan. However, his remarks on the unviability of the proposed Skybus is not correct. In fact, the first commercial prototype of the Skybus has been already constructed at Madgaon by Konkan Railway." Earlier this week, Sreedharan had stated in certain sections of the press that "Konkan Railway is misleading Kerala on the Skybus project" as it is unviable. Kochi and Goa are slated to be the first two cities to have Skybus service. While Sreedharan had stated that the full implementation of the project will taken another 10 years, thereby adding to the costs (Rs 60 to 65 crore, or Rs 600 to 650 million, per km of Skybus rail), Rajaram refuted this. He said: "It has been proved by our earlier techno-feasibility study that time taken for construction of Skybus in any city is barely two years, with expenses of Rs 45 to 50 crore per km." He added that none other than the President of India, Dr A.P.J. Kalam, had carried out the tests for Skybus proposals a few years back as the principal scientific advisor. "We would be the first country to have such a Skybus rail which is cheaper and safer than normal railway," added Rajaram. Reportedly 14 cities in India, beginning with Kochi and Goa, will get the indigenously built Skybus rail. However, Rajaram pointed that since Sreedharan is keen on setting up another committee to examine the Skybus project under the Ministry of Urban Development, there might be delays. "Story of committees is generally to delay things. However, the first PMO's report has called our project as technically sound. Even premier scientist Anil Kakodkar has given his approval," Rajaram said. He added that this is also the first time that private companies had invested nearly Rs 7 crore (Rs 70 million) for building the prototype of Skybus at Madgaon. "Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has also seen the Skybus project, and is keen on it." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- soc.culture.indian.goa, the first-every Usenet newsgroup on Goa. See http://groups.google.com and check for soc.culture.indian.goa postings ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
