INTERVIEW ď ˇď ľ
Congratulations on taking charge of Managing Director of Kochi Metro Rail Limited. Kindly brief us about your professional journey in the industry.
Alkesh Kumar Sharma, who is currently leading Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and took the responsibilities of implementing key challenging infrastructure projects of Government of Kerala such as Kochi Metro Rail project Phase II, Kochi Water Metro, Cochin Smart Cities Mission etc. He joined Indian Administrative Service from the 1990 batch of IAS Kerala Cadre. In recent interaction with Urban Transport News team, he emphasised on the importance of public transport and talked frankly on the current development of various urban transport and infrastructure projects in Kerala. Here are edited excerpts:WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
Before joining to Kochi Metro Rail Limited as Managing Director, I had worked as Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (DMICDC) from October 2015 to September 2019. I was also CEO of National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT). The Industrial Corridors are being developed by the Government of India as global manufacturing and investment destinations by setting up investment regions supported by the world-class infrastructure and enabling policy framework. Before that, I was working as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India for three years, where I handled matters relating to National Highways Planning, land acquisition, forest and environment
clearances, review and monitoring of National Highways Projects, coordination with Railways, Defence and other agencies and all matter related to toll and toll policy on the national highways. I was also Chairman of the Indian Highways Management Company Ltd. Apart from this, I had worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for three years as National Project Director, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation. In Kerala, I worked as the Managing Director of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation; Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation; Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited; Malabar Cement Limited and Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation. I also worked as Director, Kerala Tourism and as Secretary, Industries and Investment Promotion in Government of Kerala. I was Director in the Board of BPCL, Apollo Tyres, Nitta Gelatin India Ltd and Geojit BNP Paribas Ltd.
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