KIIFB fails to take up road widening project.

Protest is brewing against the exclusion of the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road widening project from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) projects.

At the maiden meeting of the newly formed KIIFB in Thiruvananthapuram recently, the project did not find mention even though Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, during his visit to the city three months ago, had promised that the road widening project would be the first venture under the KIIFB.

The KIIFB, which has been formed by the government to raise additional resources for infrastructure development outside the State Plan fund, has approved 48 projects in the departments of Industries, Forests, Public Works, Health, Information Technology, and of the Kerala Water Authority.

A. Pradeepkumar, MLA, had assured the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Action Committee that the Left government would take steps to convert the busy 8.4-km stretch of National Highway 212 ( New NH 766) into a four-lane carriageway. The CPI(M) legislator, who represents Kozhikode North, had submitted a report with an estimate of Rs.284 crore for the project. But, only an improvement at the Malaparamba Junction has been done so far.

THE HINDU