Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) managing director Elias George will hold a meeting with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials in New Delhi next week to settle the issues regarding the widening of the NH between Aluva and Edappally.
A joint inspection was conducted on Saturday by the officials of the KMRL, district administration and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) at the proposed stations for the Kochi Metro. The team covered 14 stations. The focus was on places between Edappally and Aluva, where the widening of NH has become a necessity.
As the road will get barricaded up to 8 metres for the Metro Rail, the NHAI has asked the KMRL authorities to widen the road to maintain four-lane traffic.
“The team visited the places and a consensus has reached between the officials regarding the area to be acquired. The meeting to be held in New Delhi will analyse the issue and the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the NHAI and the KMRL will take place soon,” a KMRL official said.
The team also finalised the locations for the proposed stations and the parking areas. “There are some changes in the parking areas proposed earlier,” the official said adding that the inspection of the sites for the remaining stations will be conducted soon. Elias George, Ernakulam District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth and DMRC project manager P Sriram took part in the inspection.