KOCHI:Though the Public Works Department (PWD) is all set to start the repairs of damaged city roads from Thursday, the Palarivattom-Kakkanad stretch which has begun virtually unnavigable, with even craters developing bang in the middle in some areas, will continue to remain the motorists' nightmare.
Reason: The department has excluded the road from carrying out repair works owing to the proposed extension of Kochi Metro to the Kakkanad area. According to the department,retarring of the 7 km-long road using bituminous macadam bituminous concrete (BMBC) will cost the exchequer around Rs 6 crore.
"If we carried out the road restoration work using BMBC it will be a huge loss to the government as the preparatory work for the proposed Kochi Metro's extension is expected to begin within a year. If the Metro's extension commences as per plan, trenching of the stretch the middle of next year and this will end up in wasting money. Though the department prepared a budget plan of `6 core, it was later dropped citing these issues," said a PWD officer.
Even Thrikkakara MLA P T Thomas who earlier agreed to provide Rs 4 crore from his MLA Fund to restore the road, changed his stand owing to the Metro's proposed extension. "The full-fledged road restoration work can be started only by November. If we use such a huge amount it will be a waste of money as the Metro work is expected to begin by the middle of next year. As per the plan, the patchwork will be initiated along this stretch soon," said M T Shabu, Executive Engineer, PWD Roads Division.
However, the department is yet to allot fund for carrying out the patchwork along the Kakkanad- Palarivattom stretch. " Rs 60 lakh has been set aside for the pothole filling job in the city but not a single amount has been allocated for the repairing work of the Civil Line Road. As of now, Palarivattom - Kakkanad is the worst road in the entire stretch," said a member of the district administration who took the PWD to task over the issue.
According to information sourced from the Works Department, the Ernakulam zone sought `142 crore from the government for carrying out the road restoration work. "A few weeks back we also carried out some road repairing work following the Collector's directive. But only after the monsoon, we can start the repair work in a full-fledged manner," said the EE.