Kerala: Centre awards four more road stretches

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPAC) under the Union ministry of finance has decided to award four road stretches - Thalassery-Mahe bypass, Kozhikode bypass, Thalappady-Chengala and Chengala–Kalikkadavu - entailing Rs 6,300 crore for a total length of 134 km. A detailed project report is getting ready for Angamaly – Kundannoor- Willington Island stretch so that motorists can avoid the NH and reach Kundannoor through Seaport–Airport Road. The PPPAC decided to award them during the current fiscal year.

Now the ball is in the court of the state government to speed up land acquisition. Already the respective collectors and the assigned tahsildars are working on a war footing to complete the Herculean task, especially in Kasaragod, Kannur and Kozhikode districts. In some districts, especially in Thrissur and Ernakulam, land acquisition has not been happening with the expected vigour. Work is progressing on the Malappuram stretch though it had faced opposition from the locals earlier.

“Recently the parliamentary party committee was in Kochi where we submitted a detailed proposal before them. We were waiting for the final nod from PPPAC which has since decided to award four works on Thalassery - Mahe bypass, Kozhikode bypass, Thalappady - Chengala and Chengala - Kalikkadavu spanning 134 km”, said a top NH official.

Seaport-Airport Road is a four-lane, 30 km highway from Cochin Seaport to the Cochin International Airport developed to ease pressure on the city roads. Once this work is initiated, motorists would save more time and avoid the long traffic on the NH. Similarly, DPR is also underway for the Cherthala - Thiruvananthapuram stretch. These two works would be awarded during 2017-18 and 2018-19, covering 528 km.