THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ambitious West Coast Waterway project that aims at developing the 616-km-long canal system running parallel to the state’s coastline from Kovalam to Bekal continues to suffer delays owing to land acquisition and rehabilitation hurdles.
Hundreds of families living along the Parvathy Puthanar, which is part of the National Waterway, are expressing strong dissatisfaction over the uncertainty and delay in the overall progress of the project in the state capital.
The residents’ associations affected by the project in the Vallakadavu area have come together and formed an action council to express their discontent and they are demanding expediting the land acquisition procedures.
The project designed to interconnect Kerala’s backwaters and rivers, aims to enhance transportation, trade, and tourism in the state by 2026.“There is no momentum in the project and we are in the dark about the reason for the delay. Many of the families are yet to get the compensation. They have evaluated the assets and fixed the compensations but the distribution of compensation amount is not happening,” said Rahim N, president of Azeez Nagar Residents’ Association, Vallakadavu.
“Many residents associations in the Enchakkal-Vallakadavu area affected by the project will be part of the action council. The project has been dragging on for years now,” he added.
An official of the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Department told TNIE that there was no delay and land acquisition and rehabilitation procedures were going on.
“This is one of the massive rehabilitation project taken up by the government and it is ongoing. We are rehabilitating around 1,500 families from Kovalam to Varkala to facilitate the project. In the capital city, the process to rehabilitate around 400 of the 900 families is underway. The rest of the private parties have title deeds and we have to do the rehabilitation as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013. It is going to take some time for all the procedures to complete,” said a top official of the Inland Navigation Department.
Lack of cleaning activities has left the Parvathy Puthanar in a clogged and polluted state now. Nazirudeen A K, another resident living near the Parvathy Puthanar canal at Vallakadavu, said that the development of the canal has been long pending.
“I retired from the Irrigation Department and the government formed KSINC (Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation Ltd) in 2000 for developing the canal network in the state. Even after 24 years of its inception, nothing much has been done on the ground. Proper cleaning or development of this canal is not happening and the authorities are turning a blind eye towards the growing encroachment along the canal. Now, the state government is giving compensation for the violators,” said Nazirudeen.
Kerala Waterways Infrastructure Ltd (KWIL), the SPV (special purpose vehicle) roped in for the project, has been doing some cleaning activities at Parvathy Puthanar.
Owing to high maintenance cost of the machinery used for cleaning acitivites, KWIL has backed out from the process. “We carried out cleaning activities a couple of months ago using fund allotted by the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). The waste water and garbage from all over the city are reaching the Parvathy Puthanar making it difficult to maintain it. Once the rehabilitation is over and the project is launched we will be able to maintain the canal better,” said an official of the Inland Navigation Department. He said that the project would be completed by 2026.
PLan of action
The project will be implemented in three phases:
Phase 1 (2024): 233 km of waterways from Akkulam to Chettuva to be made navigable and will be inaugurated in December 2024
Phase 2 (2025): The Vadakara-Mahe stretch and other canals, covering 85 km, will be developed and opened for water transport
Phase 3 (2026): The Kozhikode Canal City Project and the development of feeder canals, with a final completion date set for 2026