K'taka Govt has open mind on Mono Rail too

Bangalore, Mar 10: Welcoming the Centre giving the final clearance to the Metro Rail project in the city, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said the State would also consider the other alternative of Mono Rail to ease the traffic congestion here.

Speaking at the annual members day of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, he said, ''The state has an open mind on Mono Rail also.'' With the securing of the final clearance for the Rs 6,300 crore project, work would start shortly, he added.

Mr Kumaraswamy said the Hassan-Mysore gauge conversion work was almost completed and would be opened for operation soon.

The Chief Minister, who also spoke on private-public partnership in infrastructure development, said there was lot of potential to work together in the areas of transport, tourism, power, drinking water and sewerage, healthcare and waste management.

The State Government was looking for tie-up with private entrepreneurs in these sectors. With both the Union and State Government spending on building social infrastructure, including education, law and order, poverty alleviation and bringing down illiteracy, there was lot of scope for the private sector to work with the Government, he noted.

He said the economic advantage of the State's over 300-km coastal stretch was yet to be harnessed. The State's future economic prosperity lay in making use of its rich potential. Describing Mangalore port as the 'gateway' of economic activities in the State, he appealed to investors to come forward to make use of it.

Earlier speaking on the occasion, CII Karnataka Chairman Daljit Mirchandani said the growth was not necessarily with regard to industry alone, but involved all other sectors.

He opined that as the entire rural economic activities direcly related to the purchasing power of the people living in urban areas, there was an urgent need to create a synergy between rural people and their urban counterparts to achieve overall development.

CII (Southern Region) Chairman Parasuraman, who also spoke, said members of CII Karnataka contributed over 54 per cent of the total State GDP and it should be strengthened further. Stressing the importance of infrastructure development, he said CII members were ready to work with the State Government to sustain the commendable growth rate, hovering around the double digit.

UNI