ENVIS Centre: Kerala
Status of Environment and Related Issues

Infrastructure
Infrastructure forms the foundation on which social, economic and Industrial Development is built. Kerala is among the well performing states in India and holds an important position in the industrial front. The state holds significant industrial potential owing to good infrastructure facilities like power, transport system, airports, port and harbours and availability of rare materials. Central agencies like Railways, National Highways, Ports, Post and Telegraph, Telecommunication and Civil Aviation Authorities play a significant role in providing infrastructure facilities.

Housing Status
The NSS 59th round survey (January-December 2003) on consumer expenditure & employment –
unemployment situation in India gives comparative details on housing status in various states and all India. The survey results say that Kerala State has gone much ahead in solving the problems of housing in comparison with other States and Union Territories. While 75% of the households in Kerala were living in pucca houses, the all India level of it was only 63% in the year 2003. As regards the rural households, the percentage of people living in pucca houses in Kerala was 66% while it was only 44% at the all India level. On the other hand, not much increase had been registered in Kerala as against all India level on urban households living in pucca houses. The comparative statement of house holds living in kucha, semi pucca and pucca houses in Kerala and all India during 2003 is given in Table below. Ref: Economic Review 2005; Government of Kerala
 

In the case of ownership of land, 86 percentage of the households in Kerala are staying in their own houses, it was only 78 percentage at the all India level. Though there was not much gap on ownership of living houses in rural Kerala and rural India, the gap is much wider in urban areas. While 80 percentage of households in urban Kerala were living in their own houses, the position of it at the all India level was only 62 percent. The details are given in Table below.

Transport Infrastructure
Transport system of the State consists of 1.54 lakh Km of road, 1148 Km of Railways, 1687 Km of Inland Waterways and 111 statute miles of Airways and 18 Ports.

Road Network in Kerala: The PWD (Roads) wing deals with the maintenance of National Highways within the state and construction and maintenance works related to State Highways and Major District Roads. The department follows a strategy to improve, including upgrading the existing roads in a prioritized manner depending upon the condition and infrastructural needs for economic growth. The department intends to avail budgetary support, institutional and private finance in improving the road section.

a)    National Highways in Kerala
The length of National Highways in Kerala (see Table below) increased from 1523.954 km in 2003-04 to 1525.570 KM during 2004-05. National Highways in Kerala is only 2.3% of the total National Highway length spread over 1525.570 KM in India. Improvement and strengthening of 320 km of National Highways was carried out by providing Bituminous Macadam and Asphalic concrete in the year 2004-05.

Based on the data available in 2010, there are 9 National Highways passing through the State of Kerala with a total length of 1534.451 Km. Government of India Vide Notification No S.O 542(E) dated 5th March renamed all the National Highways .The revised numbers of National Highways are

b)State Road Network
On the road front, traffic has been growing at a rate of 10 to 11 percent every year, resulting in excessive pressure on the roads in the State. Total road length in Kerala during 2004-05, increased to 154679 KM from 145704 kms in the previous year, registering an increase of 6 percent. Road density in the State is 398 km / 100 sq.km and it is far ahead of national average of 74.9 km/100 sq.km. The length of road per lakh population is 485.8 km and it is much higher than the national average of 259.2 km. The roads maintained by Panchayats has also increased by 5.34 percent in 2004-05. Category of road network in Kerala is shown in figure below:

According to the reports on 2010, all major arterial roads which provide mobility are with the PWD (R&B) consisting 4341.651 Km State Highways and 18900.058 Km Major District Roads (MDR), where as the length of SH  during the previous year is 4460.29 Km and that of MDR is 17117.928 Km showing a increase in length in MDR. The Other District Roads under PWD converted as MDR during 2001-06 are now deleted and newly retained MDR and the length of MDR comes to 18900.058 Km showing an increase in length by 1782.13 Km. Roads maintained by PWD (R&B) and PWD (NH) are shown below

Railways in Kerala: Railways are essentially the cause for Industrial upsurge in the nation and it still remained the largest employment provider for the huge population of the country. The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 111599 Km and the total route length is 64015 Kms. The State total Railway route has a length of 1198.9 Km and covers 13 Railway routes. The Railway Divisions at Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad and Madurai jointly carry out Railway Operations in Kerala.

Air Transport: Kerala has three Air Ports at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhicode handling both International and Domestic flights. Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhicode Air Ports are owned by Government of India and Kochi Air Port is owned by Kochin International Air Port Ltd (CIAL), a company set up by Government of Kerala with Public Private Participation.

Inland Water Transport in Kerala:  Inland Water Transport, is a fuel efficient and environment friendly mode of transportation. India is richly endowed with navigable waterways, comprising rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc. It is estimated that a total of 14500 Km of the waterways could be used for passenger and cargo movement. The State of Kerala, with numerous backwaters, is one of the State in India, where waterways are successfully used for commercial Inland Water Transport. The transportation is mainly done with country craft and passenger vessels. There are 41 navigable rivers in Kerala. The total length of the Inland Waterways in the State is 1687 Kms. The main constraints to the expansion of Inland Water transport in the State are lack of depth in the waterway caused by silting, lack of maintenance of navigation system and bank protection, accelerated growth of the water hyacinth, lack of modern inland craft terminals and cargo handling system.

Kerala Port Sector: The Kerala state lies in the south west corner of the Indian peninsula. It has a coastal length of 585 km and the state has an average width of about 60 km with one major port at Cochin and 17 non major ports. The non major ports are under the administration of Government of Kerala. Government of Kerala intends to provide a boost to coastal shipping with the development of ports. Kerala state has got the Ghats in the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The forest area in the east and coastal area in the west are environmentally very sensitive areas. The midland and coastal lowland are thickly populated. The physical and geographical features of Kerala and shortage of land causes man hardships for port development and industrialization in Kerala. The geographical location of Kerala is very close to international shipping route. There are seventeen minor ports in Kerala, out of which three are considered as intermediate ports based on berthing, cargo handling and storage facilities available in them. These have contributed much to the development of industry. trade, commerce and agriculture in the country.

Telecommunication
Telecommunication is one of the prime support services needed for rapid growth and modernisation of the economy. The Telecommunication services in India have improved significantly since independence.
Kerala Telecom circles serves the whole of Kerala State, the Union Territory of Lakshadweep and part of Union Territory of Pondicherry (Mahe). The Circle has 11 major Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs) and one minor Secondary Switching Area (SSA) of Lakshadweep. Out of 11 major Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs), four at (Trivandrum, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Trichur) are headed by Principal General Managers and 7 are headed by General Managers. Lakshadweep minor SSA is headed by a Telecom District Manager.
In Kerala, all the telephone exchanges were made automatic for the first time in the whole country, way back in 1990. In 1992 Kerala became the first state to provide Public Telephone facilities in all Panchayats Headquarters. Kerala is also the first state to provide Public Telephone in every village, by 1995. Kerala has a telephone density of 114.3 per thousand population as on 30.9.2005. The rural telephone density is 100 per 1000 population and urban telephone density is 153 per 1000 population.

(Source: Economic Review 2010)
 

Institutions in Kerala
Besides Government Departments,Kerala has several other Institutions such as Commissions, Autonomous Bodies, Cultural institutions, Public Sector undertakings, Welfare Fund Boards, Co-operative organisations,Development Authorities, Universities, Colleges, etc.
 

Commissions

Universities

AUTONOMOUS BODIES, CULTURAL AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS

Public Sector Restructuring and Internal Audit Board,

Public Sector Undertaking

WELFARE FUND BOARDS

Environmental institutions and organizations

NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH CENTRE