Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, Sep 25, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, Sep 25, 2005 |
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Kerala Industry & Economy - Infrastructure Money & Banking - Financial Services Sabarimala Temple all set for Rs 1,000-cr facelift — IL&FS to raise funds from market Ambarish Mukherjee
New Delhi , Sept. 24 THE next round of infrastructure development that would be opening an unusual avenue for investors looking for long-term returns could be around major pilgrim centres in the country. The first major pilgrim site slated for infrastructure development and environment management would be the centuries old Sabrimala Temple of Lord Shree Ayyappan, located inside the forests of Western Ghats in Kerala. According to the master plan prepared for the purpose, the total project cost is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore. The funds would be raised from the market by the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS). "The project has been approved only in August. So no details have been finalised yet. But, in all probability, it could be a specific purpose fund with the word Sabarimala in the name through which the funds would be raised," the Joint Managing Director of IL&FS, Mr Hari Sankaran, told Business Line. "This is the first such project in the country where environmental infrastructure management is being undertaken at a religious site where crores of people gather at a particular time of the year. "Everything they do has environmental impact, and this temple is located inside a reserve forest. "So the plan is to create proper facilities for pilgrims and mitigate the environmental impact of human activities," he said. The plan includes building up proper facilities for the pilgrims to queue up on their way for the darshan, roads, sanitation, sewerage, water supply, river clean up, parking bays and the likes. Mr Sankaran said that a joint venture company would be formed between the Kerala Government and the trustee body of the Sabrimala Temple which is the Travancore Devaswom Board. ILFS would participate in the project through its wholly owned subsidiary ILFS Ecosmart India Ltd. "However, the mechanism for the funding is to be decided in time. It could be debt, quasi debt or other instruments. The project would take four to five years to be completed," he said. The religious centres in the country are usually highly polluted on account of the large number of human gatherings. In recent years, the crowd has increased substantially and many such projects could be taken up, Mr Sankaran said and cited the examples of the Guruvayyur Temple in Kerala, Kamakshya Temple in Assam and Mathura Temple in Uttar Pradesh where such projects could be feasible.
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