The privatization lobby, which moved heaven and earth to handle the light metro projects, ended up with egg on its face when the State Government decided not to allow private participation in the projects.

What has rubbed salt into the wounds of the privatization lobby has been the decision to allow the public sector firm, DMRC to implement the twin projects. Principal adviser of DMRC, E. Sreedharan, the bête noire of the privatization lobby, will lead the projects, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, adding that the state government will bear 20 per cent of the cost, and the other 20 per cent will be met by the Central Government. The remainder will come as loan from Japanese aid agency, JICA at half per cent interest.

With the Kerala Mono Rail Corporation clearing the Detailed Project Report (DPR), there will be no tender procedures and the consultancy will be entrusted directly to the DMRC.

It has not been smooth sailing for Sreedharan and the DMRC. The privatisation lobby put severe pressure on the Chief Minister and it was only an ultimatum of sorts from the Metro Man which forced the CM and the State Government to relent, it is learnt. Mr. Sreedharan is learnt to have told the state government that if the public private partnership (PPP) model is favoured for the light metro projects, both he and the DMRC would not associate themselves with them.

The state Finance Department, egged opn by the private lobby, made a determined effort to ensure private funding for the projects. But with Sreedharan putting its foot down, a high-level meeting held in the presence of the CM, decided against private participation.

Sreedharan is vehemently opposed to the PPP mode because of his bitter experience in trying the hybrid version of PPP for the Metro’s Delhi Airport line. While the DMRC bore the cost of civil work and land, the cost of supply and installation of various systems, operation and maintenance was given to a private firm. The firm not only failed to commission the line in time but also walked out of the project and contract after a while!

Having been bitten once, Sreedharan can be forgiven for being twice shy. The Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode light metro projects, Sreedharan fears, will meet the same fate if the PPP mode was agreed upon. Hence his fierce opposition to it.

This is not the first time that the Metro Man has won his battle against the powerful privatisation lobby. The lobby, backed by IAS officers, central ministers and a few state ministers in the past strained every nerve to see that Sreedharan is not entrusted with the construction of the Kochi Metro project. It was only intense pressure from the people at large which helped thwart the private lobby’s attempt to oust Sreedharan from Kochi Metro project.

That the privatization lobby has not reconciled itself to the humiliating defeat it suffered in the battle for the Kochi metro project is clear from the manner in which tried to ease out Sreedharan and the public sector firm, DMRC from the Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode light metro projects as well.

In the ultimate analysis, it is a significant victory for the public sector, which has been meted out a raw deal by the Oommen Chandy government in the state. (IPA)