The land acquisition for the widening of the Vyttila-Petta Road for the Kochi Metro Rail project will be completed by March 2014. The State government will provide `70 crore for the project, under the available provisions in the current budget. An allotment of `20 crore was already made for the acquisition. Out of the total fund requirement of `120 crore for acquiring 3.04 hectares of land, `30 crore will be allotted in the first quarter of the next financial year. The decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by the Chief Minister in Kochi on Thursday.
The meeting reviewed the progress of the Kochi Metro Rail project and took some key decisions on some major infrastructure projects that need to be implemented along with the construction of the metro.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Aryadan Mohammed, the transport minister, said that a major decision was taken on the widening of the Thammanam-Pulleppady Road. “Instead of the actually proposed 22 metres, the 3.4-km Thammanam-Pulleppady Road will be widened to 18 metres. The work would be carried out by the PWD. The Kochi Mayor has agreed to present the proposal to the Corporation Council for its nod. An amount of `25 crore will be provided by the government for carrying out the work,” Aryadan said.
He said that the State will make sure that the land required for the Kochi Metro Rail project, which is owned by various government agencies and local bodies, would be handed over to the authorities on time.
“We will speed up the proceedings for handing over the land required for the project, owned by the Kochi Corporation, the GCDA, and the Aluva and Kalamassery Municipalities,” he added.
After considering the request of the DMRC for the provision of sand from the Bharathapuzha and Periyar rivers, Aryadan said that the meeting has decided to present the proposal before the State Cabinet.
In order to augment the water transport sector, the meeting has decided to submit a proposal for launching advanced boat services before the Ministry of Urban Development next month. Meanwhile, the ferry service between Vyttila and Kakkanad would start operations by mid-November. K V Thomas, the Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies, other ministers, including K Babu, V K Ibrahim Kunju, Anoop Jacob, Mayor Tony Chammany, KP Dhanapalan MP, MLAs Benny Behnan, Hibi Eden and Anwar Sadath, GCDA Chairman N Venugopal, principal adviser to DMRC E Sreedharan and KMRL managing director Elias George, among other officials, attended the meeting.
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