Vyttila-Petta Road Widening to Begin Tomorrow
KOCHI: Widening of the Vyttila-Petta Road, the delay in commencing which had hindered work on the Vyttila-Petta stretch of the Kochi Metro Rail, will begin on Friday.
The widening and rebuilding of the road from Kunnara Park to Petta will be officially inaugurated by Minister for Power Aryadan Mohammed at a function to be held at the KSEB sub-station at Thykkoodam.
The road widening is necessary for commencing work on the Metro Rail project from Vyttila to Petta. The road is proposed to be widened to 26 metres, and the reconstructed road will have facilities like utility ducts for carrying cables, electrical lines and pipelines. Separate drains and footpaths will also be built along the road.
Land is being acquired for the project spending Rs 104 crore, for which the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has taken loan from the Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank.
Widening and reconstruction of the first reach, from Vyttila to Petta, has been taken up at a cost of Rs 22.35 crore.
“The widening work will be undertaken as per the top technical specifications stipulated by the Ministry Of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH),” said KMRL officials.
Meanwhile, the KMRL has decided to extend the Metro Rail to Tripunithura in phase-1 (b) of the project. As part of the extension, it has been proposed to widen and reconstruct the road from Petta to S N Junction.
At the function, which will be presided over by Benny Behnan MLA, Minister for Public Works V K Ibrahim Kunju will disburse the rehabilitation and resettlement package to some of the land-owners who have provided land for the road widening project. Excise Minister K Babu will deliver the keynote address. K V Thomas M P; Mayor Tony Chammany; MLAs Hibi Eden, Dominic Presentation and Anwar Sadath and GCDA chairman Venugopal will also attend the function.