Vehicle scrapping facility to be delayed as central PSU withdraws from project

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation’s (KSRTC) attempt to set up a vehicle scrapping unit in central Kerala received a jolt as the public sector company that agreed to collaborate with the KSRTC in the venture withdrew from the project. Now, the KSRTC will have to go for an open tender to select the implementing agency. The facility has to be established to implement the Centre’s scrapping policy regarding vehicles that are over 15 years old.

As part of implementing three scrapping facilities, the State was divided into three zones: the South Zone (Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, and Kottayam), the Central Zone (Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Malappuram, and Palakkad), and the North Zone (Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod, and Wayanad). A government order issued earlier insisted that the contract for the south zone and north zone could be awarded to entities that agree to pay the highest percentage of revenue share with the State government through an open tender.

In the case of the central zone, a joint venture between Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Braithwaite and Co Ltd., a Central PSU under the Railway Ministry, has been proposed to set up the facility at Edappal Malappuram in the first phase. This project has now hit a roadblock, with the central PSU that evinced interest in the project withdrawing from the project, as the board of the PSU didn’t approve the project, according to Transport department officials.

This is expected to delay the project further, as the State will need to reissue an open tender to select a suitable agency for establishing the vehicle scrapping facility. In Kerala, lakhs of vehicles are to be scrapped under the provisions of the Centre’s scrapping policy in 2021. Apart from the Kerala-registered vehicles, a substantial number of vehicles brought from neighbouring cities and States, and re-registered here, have also been waiting for the scrapping facility. The secondhand vehicles were brought to the States in large numbers sometime back after States like Delhi enforced rules that 10-year-old diesel cars and 15-year-old petrol cars would not be allowed to ply there.