THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the state government have denied reports suggesting that the construction of the proposed 12-km-long link road from Thekkada to Mangalapuram, as part of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project in the capital, would be dropped. Both the NHAI and the district administration clarified that the link road is an inevitable part of the ORR and would be constructed once the ongoing issues with landowners regarding acquisition procedures are settled.
The speculations that the state government scrapped the link road arose after the NHAI called the tender for the ORR, excluding the project. The reports suggested that the government dropped the project owing to stiff opposition from local residents. There were also speculations that the NHAI had recommended the state government to drop the plan.
“The link road is very much on. The project was not included in the tender called for by the NHAI as the talks regarding land acquisition procedures are still continuing. Once the issues are amicably settled, a new tender will be called exclusively for the link road,” said P Pradeep, project director, NHAI. District Collector Geromic George also said that the state government has not decided to abandon the link road and the land acquisition proceedings are going on.
Hashtag campaign
Meanwhile, social media pages in support of the development of the capital city have started a hashtag campaign #DontDestroyOAGCfuture to urge the government and the NHAI to expedite the link road at the earliest.
“The link road is necessary for the ORR. As the link road will be connected to NH 66 at Mangalapuram, commuters will get easy connectivity to airports and other IT infrastructure projects. Though we were informed that the link road project has not been dropped, we request the authorities to implement it as soon as possible,” said Rasis R S, admin, Trivandrum Indian, Facebook page.
The construction of an ORR, consisting of a 63-km-long reach from Vizhinjam to Navaikulam via Thekkada on NH 66 and 12 km from Thekkada to Mangalapuram, is being carried out as part of developing the surrounding areas of the Vizhinjam project into an extensive centre of industry and commerce. Once commissioned, the ORR will become the most important industrial corridor in the state.
The NHAI floated an e-tender for the project on February 1. It divided the tender into two reaches. The first reach is is 29km-long which starts from Navaikulam and ends at Thekkada. The second reach, which starts from Thekkada and ends at Vizhinjam, is 33.4 km long. The total cost of constructing the Navaikulam-Thekkada road is Rs 1,478.31 crore while the Thekkada- Vizhinjam road is Rs 1.489.15 crore.
Earlier, the demarcation of the Thekkada- Mangalapuram stretch was delayed owing to protests from local residents. The district collector has also intervened in the matter to resolve it. The demarcation as part of the land acquisition for ORR has crossed 60km and it is expected to be completed by mid-February. The land acquisition will also begin during that time.
The demarcation is being done by the NHAI in association with the revenue department, and a Bhopal-based firm, Highway Engineering Consultant. Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Centre is giving utmost importance to the ORR and that the tender proceedings would be completed by March. The proposed 77-km road will start from Vizhinjam and end at Navaikulam, near the Kollam border. In the first phase, the stone laying will be done along a 65-km stretch from Vizhinjam to Navaikulam. The demarcation for the construction of the Thekkada-Mangalapuram stretch will be done in the second phase.
A total of 348.09 hectares of land will be acquired for the project. As per the Detailed Project Report the stretch passes through 31 villages.