Kerala orders inquiry into Rs16.12b road project

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's Left Front government has ordered a vigilance probe into alleged corruption in a World Bank-aided road project that saw a Malaysian contractor committing suicide this month over delay in getting payment.

The Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) agreement was inked in 2002 by the previous Congress-led government.

The probe, ordered on Saturday, is the third initiated by the V.S. Achuthanandan government against the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government after it assumed power on May 18.

"The probe was ordered by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan," a senior official said.

The issue became a major embarrassment for the Kerala Government when the chief project manager of a Malaysian firm undertaking the project, Lee Been Seen, committed suicide at his home near Kuala Lumpur.

Before he left here for his hometown, Lee was reportedly harassed by sub-contractors and workers over the firm's failure to get their outstanding bills and salaries cleared.

In three different suicide notes, Lee has reportedly blamed the state government for the delay in disbursing payments.

Two phases

The road project was to be done in two phases. The project cost was estimated at Rs16.12 billion, of which the state government's share was Rs3.88 billion and the rest was from the World Bank. In the first phase, a total of 254 km was to be done in the three different projects at an estimated cost of Rs4.45 billion.

Although discussions on the project were taken up at the fag end of the E.K. Nayanar government (1996-01), the agreement was inked in December 2002 when A.K. Antony was chief minister. The work began in 2003 April and was supposed to be completed by April 2006.

Now the entire first phase of the project has come to a standstill and just 30 per cent has been completed. As per current estimates, the total project cost would cross Rs30 billion.