Twin City project seeing red
By Asha P. Nair
12th February 2010 01:12 AM
The three-member Barcelona team which visited the city.
Who holds the reins of the city - the Mayor or the MP? The answer holds the future of the Twin City project between Thiruvananthapuram and Barcelona.
Apart from a half-an-hour which was spared for a discussion with the Barcelona counterparts, the CPM-led City Corporation has turned a cold shoulder to the much-hyped twin city pact initiated by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Let alone a healthy discussion, no promises or visions were shared by the two parties during the visit. And no enthusiasm was visible on the part of the Corporation officials. Through its lukewarm response, the CPM-ruled local body has tried to make it clear that the twin city is just a cultural status and nothing more.
The discussion, or rather a question-answer session, between the two parties lasted for less than an hour during the two-day visit of the team. This, when the Barcelona team has submitted a draft proposal to the Corporation to study and arrive at major areas of cooperation.
Though the Corporation tried to wear an amiable look before the guests, the press conference by the Barcelona team on Thursday was proof for that they had received the message.
‘’We will have to match all aspects of both cities’’, a team member said. It underlines the apprehensions that the pact may not prove viable to a city like Thiruvananthapuram.
Corporation officials are of the opinion that the Barcelona team has no idea of the powers vested with the local body or any understanding of its functioning.
But it’s not all about the political divide, it has a lot of policy matters involved, Corporation sources say.
While the proposal is learnt to have put forward a lot of projects where private participation could be used, the Corporation is hand-tied from venturing out into any large-scale private tie-ups.
While even the fate of JNNURM and ADB-funded KSUDP projects, where the Corporation has to chip in just ten percent share, is yet to fall into track, the future of a proposal which is not even funded, that too by an outside local government is bleak.
It may be recalled that the water supply scheme under JNNURM has been entrusted with the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) and the Mass Transport project (under which the Volvo buses were launched) has been handed over to the KSRTC by the Corporation, though it holds the implementation onus of the projects.
If desired too, the Corporation does not own the capacity to conduct a major development in Technopark or a tourist venture at Aakkulam. All that is actually possible through the tie-up is the initiation of a couple of welfare schemes or transfer of technology.
‘’We do not want a team from Barcelona giving us proposals to develop a city square or to clean a canal. Urban planning is beyond our power, it needs coordinated efforts of so many departments. We can only decide on sanitation projects,’’ said a top Corporation official.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com
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