THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The much-touted Outer Ring Road project proposed for the capital will be delayed at least by a year as the land acquisition for the project is proving to be an arduous task for the state government. Though the Rs 4,868 crore project had got in-principal approval from the Centre, the land acquisition, which has to be carried out by the state government has reached nowhere.
The project involves the construction of a road which will interconnect NH 66, state highways and MC road beginning from Parippally in the north to Andoorkonam, Vattapara, Aruvikara, Ooruttambalam, Balaramapuram and Vizhinjam bypass. The fifty per cent of the fund for the project has been provided by the Union government while the remaining has to be arranged by the state government.
Sources say that the project needs large stretches of land as the second phase of the project has an industrial and commercial hub in addition to the 80-kilometre six-lane road. “Unlike other road projects, this needs large tracts of land and hence needs more time. Though the Capital Region Development Programme (CRDP), the implementing agency, will complete the proceedings including the submission of Detailed Project Report (DPR) by December, the political decision is going to be a crucial factor for this project. The political decision on land acquisition will also be delayed as LSG elections are due next year,” a senior officer of the state government said.
CRDP has chalked out plans to acquire land by employing two methods - Land Bond and Land pooling. The state government has approved the concept of Land Bond. The land pooling method will be a practical one as it has been successfully implemented in Gujarat and Maharashtra, sources said.
However, these can be done only after the preliminary proceedings of land acquisition begins. “We know that there will be opposition from the people. So we are working on it systematically so that there won’t be any hiccups during the acquisition process,” the officer said. Sources added that the survey proceedings for land acquisition along the 80-kilometre stretch connecting Parippally to Vizhinjam was in its early stages.
Earlier Larsen & Toubro, which conducted the Social Impact Study, had started collecting data from the village offices regarding the land acquired for the project. However, the study hit a roadblock allegedly due to bureaucratic delay.
The corridor is expected to spur economic growth in the outer fringes of the city and create employment. Four economic areas have been proposed as part of the project- logistic zones from Mangalapuram to Ooruttambalam, IT/ITeS zone in Andoorkonam, media or entertainment zones, and rehabilitation and resettlement zones. The project is envisaged as 55 per cent brownfield and 45 per cent greenfield.
Outer Ring road
The project involves the construction of a road which will interconnect NH 66, state highways and MC road beginning from Parippally in the north to Andoorkonam, Vattapara, Aruvikara, Ooruttambalam, Balaramapuram and Vizhinjam bypass.
The fifty per cent of fund for the project has been provided by the Union government while the other half has to be mobilised by the state government.
The corridor is expected to spur economic growth in the outer fringes of the city and create employment
Four economic areas have been proposed as part of the project- logistic zones from Mangalapuram to Ooruttambalam, IT/ITeS zone in Andoorkonam, media or entertainment zones, and rehabilitation and resettlement zones
Secure monetary instrument
Land Bond, a secure monetary instrument issued by the government with assured returns and backed by State guarantee, has been mooted to overcome resource crunch and hurdles faced in land acquisition for development projects. The bond could be used to overcome opposition from landowners for projects such as four laning of national highways.
Land pooling is also a flexible method to avoid opposition from landowners. Land pooling - also known as land readjustment or land reconstitution - is a land acquisition strategy where ownership rights of privately held land parcels are transferred to an appointed agency, with these land parcels being pooled as a result.
The agency uses some of the pooled lands for infrastructure development and sale, while the rights to new parcels in the pooled land are transferred back to the original landowners in some proportion to their original property.