Kochi: Responding to the Kerala High Court’s criticism of the city corporation for its indifference to a proposal to build a railway overbridge at Pachalam, Mayor Tony Chammany claimed on Friday that the project was delayed due to paucity of funds and not because of the civic agency’s lack of interest in it.
“The Pachalam overbridge, included in the JNNURM in 2007, has been delayed as it needs a whopping Rs. 200 crore for acquisition of nine acres of land which the corporation cannot afford. If the state government bears the land acquisition cost, the project can be implemented,” Chammany told reporters, also demanding a special package for completion of the city's long pending road development projects.
While under JNNURM the Centre is expected to provide 50 per cent of the Rs 44 crore required for the overbridge, with the corporation now proposing to reduce its width to 18.5 metres, it will no longer receive these funds as the bridge will not meet the criterion laid down for financial assistance.
