THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Commuters will likely have to wait another two years to fully utilise the Mukkola-Karode highway stretch in the state as the work on the NH 66 on the Tamil Nadu side is yet to be completed.
As per the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the work on the Mukkola-Karode NH 66 stretch scheduled to be opened by next month. It was promised that once the stretch is opened, commuters from north Kerala can save time without entering Thiruvananthapuram city for going to Tamil Nadu via Kanyakumari.However, this won’t be practical if the Tamil Nadu side of the road is not opened as they have to take the same old Kaliyakkavilai-Nagercoil route.
The work in Tamil Nadu came to a standstill after the firm L&T Constructions ended the contract due to obstructions in the land acquisition process. The NHAI has now invited a fresh tender and four companies – Cherian Varkey Construction Co. Pvt. Ltd. Kochi; EKK Infrastructure Limited, Thrissur; Sree Dhanya Construction Company, Thiruvananthapuram; and Tamil Nadu-based RR Infra Constructions – have responded. The tender was opened on March 10 and the contractor will be selected based on the lowest bid.
According to NHAI (Kanyakumari section) project director T Velraj, the contract can be awarded before March 31 and start the work in April or May. “The technical evaluation and scrutiny of the tender are going on. We can start the work in April or May. Since the scope of the project is larger, it will take two years to complete. We can expect to open the road by 2025.
As per the initial evaluation, about 24 km of road needs to be constructed, including bridges and overpasses. Meanwhile, the vehicles from Kerala can divert near Karode to Kaliyikkavila by passing through the service roads,” he said. The delay in commissioning the Tamil Nadu stretch is also expected to hamper the development prospects in south Kerala and south Tamil Nadu.