So where do the ticks fall? Technocity? Tick. Vallarpadam Terminal? Tick. Cyberpark? Tick, with a half mark. I think the bucks stops there...not an inch more.
Now let's hit the ramp. Rolling out the drop dead gorgeous stuff, yeah the manikins.
NH Development
Stalled. Kerala is probably the last of the 28 states and 7 UTs to nod to the basic necessity to have their roads widened. Then we had lot of round table discussions, confusions, itches and gas trouble related to the alignment, toll, width, people and shops on both sides, ducks crossing the road and snake-charmers coming out of the toddy shops aligning the NH.You know it, but I'd say this once again. These kind of idiotic and selfish rulers are the major sclerotic elements of our life vessels.
Smart City
I won't blame you if you've a "I've-heard-this-name-somewhere-before" feeling. 7 years is a long time to remember something, if fact E=mc^2 is the only formula I remember 7 years after college. To brush up our memory, Smart City was a colossal IT project roped in by our erstwhile CM Chandy, (or was it Antony?) which promised to turn Cochin city something into the present Dubai, Singapore and Silicon Valley, all rolled into one big thing! Gulp, so hard to imagine that, as now the brown blades of grass have long taken over the piece of granite stuck into the marshy land. Not very smart.
For the record, Dubai Sheikhs and Kerala comrades are on and on at the yo-yo game. Nobody appears to be in a mood to give up. So, how 'bout another Foundation Stone Mr. CM? Make sure this one sears above the coconut trees.
National Waterway Development
This Central Sponsored project has also been sacrificed at the altar of our bureaucratic- political mismanagement. Multi-hundred crore plans for TS Canal renovation from Kovalam to Kollam have lapsed because nobody at the administrative circles were interested. What a great mistake I made thinking and wasting my time blogging about the TS Canal at my backyard turning into something like the stuff up there in Amsterdam or somewhere. (TS Canal: A passage through time) All dreams gone in a thick puff of big black smoke. Muddy, messy, mucky Puthanar continues to expunge nauseating odour poisoning the olfactory nerves of the unfortunate residents.
T3 @ Trivandrum
No more comments on this one. We had a chat early this month in this blog. (The Trivandrum Airport Saga) The tale has been evolving ever since the Terminal was ready for commissioning almost an year back. Let me Ctrl + C > V what I've written about this project exactly one year ago. (Link)
The swanky new terminal which was supposed to open this month is still u/c. Now the authorities say that 2010 March is the holy date, third time the opening date is being deferred courtesy lorry strikes, militant trade unionism, red tapes and what not? The 6 lane approach flyover is also stuck up behind the deadline. Anyway I expect to walk out of T3 this summer, anything else would be a huge disappointment.
The Terminal is still not open. STOP.
My friend and fellow blogger Nishanth had promised a photoblog of the proud new terminal when he passes through it a fortnight from now. Now he has replaced the 'when' with 'if' and thinking about other city landmarks to test his photography skills. I don't blame him.
Kannur International Airport, Aranmula International Airport, Kottayam International Airport, Idukki Airport, Guruvayoor Airport (Now, did I miss anything?)
Who is too bothered about the old ones, lets talk about the brand new ones and that too of the International breed. Foundation Stone laid for Kannur. Good. Land acquisition in progress for Aranmula. Good. I'm not too sure about Kottayam. Bad. What was that proverb we all were taught at school?
Winners don't do different things, they do things differently.
Precisely what Award-winning state Kerala plans to do. 2 laned National Highways, clogged up waterways, primordial railway services and tracks but hey, we will have 14 international Airports by the end of the world and we all will be flying around. From Pattikkad Int'l Airport to Vattappara Airport, from Kumbalangi Airport to Guruvayoor and from Chavakkad Airport to Valayar International Airport. There are even plans to connect Sabarimala via Choppers, wow!
No need of bhaang, cocaine or the black stuff to fly around in the clouds, catch my drift?
Vizhinjam Port
Good news first. The current Govt has done a lot of good, hard work for the project and things have come a long way forward. The bed news is that the project is still on paper. Some infrastructure development works have been initiated but when the first stone for the breakwater will go into the Arabian Sea is anyone's guess. Especially since the onus is on the next Govt to make sure things don't go back to square one as had been the fate of Vizhinjam a few times before. That could be a bad news for some pretty obvious 'historic' reasons, if the Reds go down the dump this new year.And that's NOT a big 'if' given the see-saw nature of Kerala's political affinity.
Cochin Metro
Guess this one will be another Ganapathi wedding tale. Another project to make ass of the citizenry of Cochin to divert their attention from the original infrastructure related issues. This one seems to be on the trail of Vizhinjam, Smart City and the likes, projects with such incredible gestation periods that it'd put the longest pregnant dinosaurs to shame. Some folks appear to believe that Cochin Metro plans appear to build up muscles just before an Election, so the idea behind the project appears clear: take everyone for a ride.
Some good news out of all this is that someone had the right senses to think of a road development plan for Cochin on the lines of the Trivandrum project. Now that's something inevitable and sensible, no matter what lies ahead of the Metro tracks.
TRDCL
Into year #9, the 42km road development project in the Capital is 'promised to finish soon', as has been the case the last half-a-decade. Roads now certainly look better in Trivandrum, after 50+ years of State formation and we've to appreciate that. Clap. So that also means we ought not roam around Power House Road looking for that dreaded flyover which completes the inner ring road. Another 5 years? Yes, if we're lucky enough. But there is a new year feast awaiting the residents of the Capital, a plethora of road inaugurations are coming your way. Hold on to your knickers! (especially the ones living along the K'puram- Nalanchira corridor)
In a few months Kerala will enter the poll booths yet again to perform their civic sacrament, a new Government will surely take seat, may be the Reds again, most probably not but remains to be seen if there would be any significant alteration to the course our state appear heading. Dead End.
Wishing you all a prosperous 2011 ahead. Thanks for visiting No Man's Land? :)
Remembering former CM K. Karunakaran who has at last succumbed to the order of life process, who has by far been the most progressive and development-oriented leader of Kerala, who possessed the vision and determination to bring about social development based on strong economic foundations.
