Four more acres likely to be acquired for for Thammanam-Pullepady road project

Around four more hectares of land is expected to be acquired over the next six months to widen the Thammanam–Pullepady road and extend it to M.G. Road and the National Highway bypass.

Sources in the Kochi Corporation said that the State government is yet to formally inform the civic agency of the go-ahead to acquire more land for the 3.70-km-long road corridor. “The project is in keeping with Kochi’s master plan and aims to augment east–west connectivity in the city. The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), which has been entrusted with the widening and extension project, fixed the road’s width at 22 metres,” they added, while seeking measures to speed up the long-overdue project that was set in motion over three decades ago.

The width of yet another east–west connectivity road, the Goshree–Mamangalam Road, had earlier been fixed at 18 metres.

Notification awaited

Sources in the KRFB said that the 11(1) notification is awaited, based on which survey teams would carry out the final survey to determine the extent of land required from different plots to widen the road. “They would then finalise the boundary of the proposed 22-metre-wide road and assess the value of buildings on the land,” they added.

Many people had surrendered their land free of cost for the project three decades ago, based on which the road was carved out at varying widths. Currently, even the short stretch from Katrikadavu to Karnakodam does not have a full four-lane width, as a few commercial establishments have not surrendered land. This has been causing traffic snarls along the corridor and at other locations where the road width varies from a single lane to a double lane.

A few landowners along the stretch had, over a year ago, sought adequate compensation for small tracts of additional land proposed to be acquired in keeping with the revised alignment of the road. They include those who had earlier surrendered their land free of cost. They also sought specific details, including the extent of additional land required for the project and when they would receive the advance payment.

Once realised, the four-lane road, which would begin at Padma Junction on MG Road and end at Chakkaraparambu on the NH bypass, is expected to decongest both Banerjee Road and Sahodaran Ayyappan Road, where traffic snarls abound.