New LDF govt to raise R1 lakh cr for Kerala’s infra development

Thiruvananthapuram, June 24: The new Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala is set to raise R1 lakh crore for funding the infrastructural development. In his address to the Assembly on Friday, Kerala governor P Sathasivam announced that the Pinarayi Vijayan government would also provide market value of land, if land had to be acquired for road development.

“The government will focus on a multi-pronged strategy, firstly, of stepping up revenue mobilisation, secondly, of eliminating wasteful expenditure and thirdly, of leveraging provisions ear marked in the budget for the capital expenditure for mobilising funds from market,” the governor said in his two-hour address to the 14th session of the state Assembly.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan is all set to experiment with new models of development, promising 25 lakh jobs. LDF, which has taken the reigns of the state after the recent elections, assured through the policy statement that it intends to provide a corruption-free state by generating one million new jobs in IT, biotechnology and tourism sectors and another 1.5 million jobs in agriculture sector in the next five years.

The policy address dwelled long on the “financial crisis” and “development stalemate” that the previous Congress-led UDF (United Democratic Front) government had left behind. There were no funds left even for the capital expenditure like construction of roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects and for the last three years (20132016), implementation of the Annual Plan approved by the Assembly was “virtually stagnated”, according to the policy address. Although the Centre has done away with Planning Commission, the Kerala government would go ahead with the 13th Five Year Plan shortly.

LDF gover nment's policy statement emphasised that private investment will be welcome for development projects, provided the investors respect environmental balance.