Kerala - Kochi   

NHAI report on four-lane work ready

KOCHI: The National Highways Authority of India has prepared a detailed project report to widen NH 47 and NH 17 into four-lane roads having a minimum width of 45 metres, PWD Minister Mons Joseph has said.

Though rules of the authority say that a four-lane highway ought to be 60-metre-wide, the relaxation was made for Kerala considering the high density of population.

The government is not for further reducing the width since the authority has envisaged service roads parallel to the four-lane highways to cater to the immediate transportation needs of local residents.

At present, steps are being taken to finalise the alignment so that land can be acquired for widening the existing highways, Mr Joseph said, addressing mediapersons here on Friday evening.

Earlier in the day, he held meetings with NHAI Chairman Gokul Ram, PWD Secretary Tom Jose and senior officials of the two agencies to discuss the widening of national highways passing through Kerala.

The Minister said that District Collectors, MPs and MLAs would take note of suggestions from the public before going ahead with land acquisition proceedings. “The highways will be developed on the basis of the Centre’s State-support agreement. Under this, widening work has restarted on the Thrissur-Angamaly stretch of NH 47. The Vadakkancherry-Thrissur stretch will be a six-lane one.”

Till recently, Kerala had turned its back to the State-support agreement, under which toll would be collected for using the highways built under the agreement.

Four-laning of NH 47 is pending on the Walayar-Thrissur stretch, apart from the Chertala- Kazhakoottam- Kaliyikkavila portion. The long-pending bypass project for Alappuzha too will materialise.

Mr. Joseph pointed out that problems associated with land acquisition had been hampering road development works in the State. “An example is the stalled city-development scheme of Thiruvananthapuram and the widening of MC Road. During the past few months, we were able to acquire 95 per cent of the required land in the State capital.”

Answering a question on contractors’ unwillingness to take up works of the PWD and local bodies because of antiquated financial estimates that are being followed, he said that steps had been taken to annually revise the rates of road and bridge works, considering the increase in price of construction materials and workers’ wages. “We took a decision today to clear contractors’ dues worth Rs.117 crore. The government now owes them just Rs.285 crore, which is an all-time low in the State’s recent history.”

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