Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate on Sunday the construction of two bridges piloted by the Goshree Island Development Authority (GIDA) to connect islanders to the mainland. The Moolampilly- Pizhala bridge and the Valiya Kadamakkudy-Chathanad bridge are supposed to end the plight of islanders of Moolampilly and Chathanad.
The state government had recently given in principle nod for a project submitted by the GIDA to construct four bridges connecting the islands. The Chief Minister, who is also the GIDA chairman, will lay the foundation stone for the Moolamppilly-Pizhala bridge and the Valiya Kadamakkudy-Chathanad bridge. After that, a public convention will be convened at the Pizhala Bhuvaneshwari temple ground.
The convention will be inaugurated by Union Minister K V Thomas. V D Satheesan MLA and Ministers Manjalamkuzhi Ali, V K Ibrahim Kunju, K Babu and S Sharma MLA will attend the meeting. The two bridges were a long-pending demand by the islanders. The 4.35-km Moolampilly-Chathanad Road project submitted by the GIDA proposes three large bridges and one small bridge. It starts from Container Road to Chathanad further joining NH-17 at Perumpadanna. Once implemented, the project would cut short the 7-km distance from Ernakulam to Paravoor.
Considering the frequent requests of Kadamakkudy residents, part of the Kadamakkudy grama panchayat, which is one among the eight panchayats that come under the GIDA supervision, a proposal for Moolampilly-Chathanad Road joining Kadamakkudy and Ernakulam mainland was moved through the State Housing Board. This was accepted by GIDA general council at its meet on December 26, 2005. The panchayat includes Pizhala, Kothadu, Chenoor, Cheriyamthuruthu and Valiya Kadamakkudy islands.
The 27th GIDA council that met on May 26, 2012, decided to hand over the construction of the four bridges and approach roads to DMRC on turn key basis. Although the DMRC had accepted the project in the beginning, by November it turned down the proposal owing to some technical reasons.