Thiruvananthapuram: The amount of money spent by the government so far for the Silver Line project is out. The state government has spent Rs 51 crore on a project that the central government has not even sanctioned so far. This is only the amount spent till the end of October.
Most of the amount has been given to Systra, which provided consultancy for the project. The figures of the amount spent on the project so far have been clarified in the reply given by the Revenue Department and K Rail to the RTI
29 crore 29 lakh rupees have been paid so far as consultancy fee to Systra, which prepared the detailed plan report. 23 lakhs for traffic inspection, 14.6 lakhs for hydrographic-topographic survey, 75 lakhs for soil testing alone and 10 lakhs for geotechnical investigation. 10 lakhs for the rapid environmental impact assessment conducted after the project was announced and 40 lakhs for the subsequent environmental impact assessment. The cost spent on social impact study has not been disclosed yet.
The revenue department spent Rs 16 crore 75 lakhs for employing officials to acquire land, opening offices and for using vehicles. The alignment lidar survey alone cost Rs 2 crore.
The reason for the increase in the cost is that the state government tried to take the project forward before the central government gave the approval. The fact that the consultancy fee alone crossed 29 crores 29 lakhs has made many criticisms.
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