KOCHI: The 'two-tier' road project, aimed at easing the traffic congestion along the MC Road passing through the Muvattupuzha town, will get a fillip with the work likely to be included in this year's State Budget. According to Muvattupuzha MLA Eldo Abraham, he is batting for the project and will do everything in his capacity to get it included in the budget. The project was announced a year ago.
"To build a two-tier road, we need a 20-metre wide road in the first level.
A plan to widen the two-km stretch of MC Road, from Velloorkkunnam to 130 Junction, is already in place. Traffic congestion is worsening every day as it takes over 30 minutes to negotiate the stretch. While discussing widening this stretch, the possibility of a two-tier road came up. This can address the traffic issues without any building new bypasses or ring roads," said Eldo Abraham.
Road work on
The 60-crore road widening project requires evacuation and land transfer from 135 landowners and the project is underway. Of this, 82 land transfers are now complete. An amount of Rs 17.30 crore was disbursed.
The remaining transactions will be completed once the Rs 32 crore from KIIFB is received.
It was during the initial stages of this road work that the possibility of the two-tier road was discussed.
The project was estimated to cost Rs 220 crores. However, due to financial issues, the plan was shelved and road widening proceeded.
"The PWD designing team had done a thorough study and the two-tier road was found extremely suitable for a town like Muvattupuzha. It was also considered a model that the small towns across the state can emulate. The project is in no way shelved. I plan to pursue the project next financial year," said Eldo Abraham MLA.