THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The construction of the proposed Outer Ring Road (ORR) in the capital is likely to be delayed as the land acquisition for the project is moving at a sluggish pace.
The delay will see construction works beginning only in August or September, as opposed to the June timeline set by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
According to the NHAI, only 50 per cent of land acquisition work is complete. The delay is on account of stiff opposition from the landowners near Navaikulam related to land acquisition close to a temple. Work is still on under the aegis of the state revenue department. The tender for the ORR will be opened in June, the NHAI officials said.
“Land acquisition is underway. There are some disputes. The revenue department is handling it. Since the acquisition is only 50 per cent complete, we will only open the tender next month, and construction is expected to start in August or September,” said a top official of NHAI, who added that the survey proceedings were complete.
Meanwhile, the NHAI has issued a gazette notification for acquiring 19.16 hectares of land in Chirayinkeezhu taluk. The land will be acquired at Pulimath, Nagaroor, and Koduvazhannoor villages. This is the latest notification related to the land acquisition.
The total land needed to be acquired is 295 hectares. The revenue department will also acquire around 7.66 hectares of land to build seven major junctions at the ORR. These lands will be acquired from Balaramapuram, Pallichal, Maranalloor, Nagaroor, Kilimanoor, Pulimath, Pullmapara, Thekkada, Kulathummal, Karakulam, and Aruvikkara. The proposed 77-kilometre road will start from Vizhinjam and end at Navaikulam, near the Kollam border.
In October last year, Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation Ltd. submitted the detailed project report (DPR) for land acquisition to the NHAI. The DPR was finalised by the NHAI and handed over to the district administration’s land acquisition wing.
As per the DPR, the stretch passes through 31 villages. The NHAI has divided the route into two reaches: the first, a 29-kilometre stretch from Navaikulam to Thekkada, and the second, a 33.4-kilometre stretch from Thekkada to Vizhinjam. The total expected cost of the Navaikulam-Thekkada road is Rs 1,478.31 crore, and for the Thekkada-Vizhinjam stretch, it is Rs 1,489.15 crore.
In the first phase, the link road between Thekkada and Mangalapuram was avoided. However, the link road will be constructed once the issues with the landowners are settled. The demarcation of the land was done by the NHAI in association with the revenue department and a Bhopal-based firm, the Highway Engineering Consultant. Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Centre is giving utmost importance to the Outer Ring Road.
Earlier, the revenue department had constituted a special team for the speedy implementation of the project. Issuing an order on government approval for land acquisition in April this year, the revenue department set up a team of 12 officials, led by a special deputy collector, to ensure the smooth acquisition of about 1,500 acres for the project under the Centre’s Bharatmala Pariyojana scheme. The ORR project got the Union government’s in-principle approval in 2019.