The governing body of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) here on Tuesday approved projects to the tune of ₹4,014 crore.
Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac told reporters that 675 projects worth ₹35,028.84 crore had been approved so far.
KIIFB has also sanctioned ₹14,275 crore for acquiring land for industrial parks and ₹5,374 crore for development of National Highways. This makes the total project outlay till date ₹53,678 crore.
Projects included in the new approved list are 24 roads, one reach for the hill highway, three hospitals, one bypass, 56 schools, seven railway overbridges, one flyover, one fishing harbour, and two tourism projects.
Land
KIIFB extends 25% of the cost for acquiring land for National Highway development, which amounts to ₹5,374 crore.
A tripartite agreement has been signed between the State government, KIIFB, and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The amount would be released to the owner of the land ceded, based on the recommendation of the District Collector.
The entire series of transactions have been spared from treasury controls.
PWD projects
Projects under the Public Works Department (PWD) worth ₹2989.56 crore accounts for a lion’s share of those approved by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board.
The meeting also approved the report of the Fund Trustee Advisory Commission (FTAC), a statutory body under the KIIFB (Amendment) Act, 2016, chaired by Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Minister said the FTAC had fully endorsed the conduct of business by KIIFB.
New initiatives
A number of new initiatives have been finalised by the KIIFB board to scale up transparency, significant among which is a whistle-blower policy.
This will be extended to all special purpose vehicles (SPVs) spun off from KIIFB, going forward.
An independent member of KIIFB has been appointed as Ombudsman under this policy.
Till date, an amount of ₹4,480 crore flowed out of KIIFB as expenditure.
It expects the spending to considerably increase during the rest of the months.
The Minister has set a target of ₹20,000 crore by the end of next financial year.
