SIA study to widen Thammanam-Pullepady Road to begin in February

Social Impact Assessment study for widening Thammanam-Pullepady Road to M.G. Road and NH 66 Bypass begins, land acquisition procedures ongoing.

The Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study to widen the arterial Thammanam-Pullepady Road and to extend it to M.G. Road and NH 66 Bypass would begin in February, while the pending land acquisition procedures are expected to get over by June, it was decided here at a review meeting on Wednesday.

The Revenue department had recently handed over the corridor, which was owned by the Kochi Corporation till a few years ago, to the Public Works department (PWD) in order to develop it as a four-lane road having 22-m width as per Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) norms.

It was decided at Wednesday’s meeting to complete the laying of boundary stones for plots that ought to be acquired, by the first week of February. The laying of stones had suffered delay due to reasons that included marginal change of alignment of the proposed road to adhere to KIIFB norms.

The meeting also decided to begin initial land acquisition procedures under 11(1) notification from April. The KIIFB had sanctioned a total of ₹150 crore to acquire land to develop the 3.70-km corridor that would provide the shortest link between M.G. Road and the Edappally-Aroor NH 66 Bypass, beginning from near Padma Junction and ending at Chakkaraparambu.

The detailed project report for the 22-m-wide road and a bridge parallel to Pullepady Bridge had been approved earlier. The meeting that was attended by District Collector N.S.K. Umesh, Mayor M. Anilkumar, Hibi Eden, MP, and T.J. Vinod, MLA, directed the officials concerned to speed up the land acquisition and allied procedures, and to fast-track the execution of the long-overdue road-widening project that dates back to over 30 years.

While expressing concern at the tardy pace of developing the road, Mr. Eden said that there was still lack of clarity on many components primarily due to the need to adhere to KIIFB norms. “This is apart from demands raised by those who had surrendered their land free of cost for the project. These must be considered and decisions taken fast.”

Mayor M. Anilkumar said that with land acquisition scheduled to conclude shortly, the long-awaited road project was getting closer to reality.