Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said concerns over the SilverLine rail corridor potentially dividing the State are unfounded.
While fielding questions on the proposed Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail) project in the Assembly on Tuesday, Mr. Vijayan also claimed that studies were under way to minimise the quantity of construction materials required for the massive endeavour.
Dismissing growing fears over the construction of embankments for the project, he pointed out that the component is commonly seen along the existing railway tracks in the country and is essential in preventing flooding.
Embankments as high as 17 metres have been constructed by the Railways. However, those proposed for SilverLine will not exceed a height of 8 metres.
While 55% of the entire corridor, 292.728 kilometres, will be constructed on embankments that have widths ranging from 10 to 20 metres, a major portion will be 5-metres high. Only 74 kilometres will have heights ranging from 5 to 8 metres. An adequate number of underpasses and culverts have been planned along the corridor to enable people to cut across the corridor.
Environmental impact
Pointing out that difficulty faced in sourcing rock for the Vizhinjam international seaport project, Shafi Parambil (Congress) raised doubts of the feasibility of procuring a much larger quantity of construction materials for the SilverLine project.
The Chief Minister, however, remained confident that the necessary raw materials for the embankment construction could be sourced from various locations. Nonetheless, efforts were being made to optimise the available resources and undertake the construction in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Indian Green Building Council for its Platinum certification issued for ‘green’ construction projects.
