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Kerala to enact law on infrastructure

Our Bureau

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Sept. 19

THE Kerala Government will soon come out with an ``infrastructure development'' legislation as part of its efforts at speedy industrialisation of the State.

The legislation will enable private and joint ventures to take up development of infrastructure through build-own-operate (BOO), build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) and such other routes, the Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, told newspersons after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Mr Antony said that the global investors' meet, aimed at luring investments to the State, will be held in Kochi early next year.

The Cabinet also decided to grant Rs 33.15 crore to the State Housing Board to help it clear a part of its arrears to the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco).

This is to facilitate Hudco resume financing of housing projects in the State. The funding agency had stopped extending financial assistance to Kerala in the wake of piling up of huge arrears during the tenure of the previous LDF Government, the Chief Mi nister said.

In this connection, he said that a preliminary probe by the inspection wing of the Finance Department would be conducted into the ``gross irregularities'' committed in the implementation of the ``Maitri housing scheme'' under the previous regime.

Another decision taken by the Cabinet is to ask the Marketing Federation to procure 10,000 tonnes of rubber immediately at the minimum support price of Rs 32.50 per kg fixed by the Centre.

Trading in rubber has come to a standstill with the manufacturers desisting from purchasing the commodity. This has landed the rubber growers, who have already been going through a lean patch, in a fresh crisis, he said.

The Chief Minister hoped that the intervention by the Marketing Federation would bring relief to the rubber growers. The State has also asked Nafed to resume procurement of copra in view of the steep fall in the price of coconut.