The Managing Director of Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC), Dr B. Rajaram, today rubbished the claims of former KRC chief, E. Sreedharan, who has openly called the Skybus project as ‘‘unviable’’ and ‘‘misleading’’.Talking to The Indian Express today, Rajaram said: ‘‘I have full respect for Sreedharan. However, his remarks on the unviability of the proposed Skybus is not correct. In fact, the first commercial prototype of the Skybus has been already constructed at Madgaon by Konkan Railway.’’Earlier this week, Sreedharan had stated in certain sections of press that ‘‘Konkan Railway is misleading Kerala on the Skybus project’’ as it is unviable. Kochi and Goa are slated to be the first two cities to have Skybus service.While Sreedharan had stated that the full implementation of the project will take another 10 years, thereby adding up the costs (Rs 60 to 65 crore per km of Skybus rail), Rajaram refuted this. He said: ‘‘It has been proved by our earlier techno-feasibility study that time taken for construction of Skybus in any city is barely two years, with expenses of Rs 45 to Rs 50 crore per km.’’He added that none other than the President of India, Dr A.P.J. Kalam, had carried out the tests for Skybus proposals a few years back as the principal scientific advisor. ‘‘We would be the first country to have such a Skybus rail which is cheaper and safer than normal railway,’’ added Rajaram.Reportedly 14 cities in India, beginning with Kochi and Goa, will get the indigenously built Skybus rail. However, Rajaram pointed that since Sreedharan is keen on setting up another committee to examine the Skybus project under the Ministry of Urban Development, there may be delays. ‘‘Story of committees is generally to delay things. However, the first PMO’s report has called our project as technically sound. Even premier scientist Anil Kakodkar has given his approval,’’ Rajaram said.He added that this is also the first time that private companies had invested nearly Rs 7 crore for building the prototype of Skybus at Madgaon. ‘‘Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee has also seen the Skybus project, and is keen on it.’’The Kochi project will reportedly cost around Rs 1,500 crore. The Central and state governments would have to bear 20 per cent of the expenses. ‘‘Since the project is totally indigenous, we are cutting out technology imports from Korea and others,’’ he said.
