Give Kochi its flyover back
A 750-metre flyover at one of the many traffic junctions in busy Kochi is a big deal for political parties in Kerala. That’s exactly why the structure in question, the Palarivattom flyover, has remained closed for the last 16 months and more. The fact is it was in use for only about 30 months—between its grand opening in October 2016 and the closure due to the appearance of cracks in May 2019.
Now that the Supreme Court has given the state government what it wanted, the option of demolishing and rebuilding it, there’s hope that the flyover will be rendered usable once again. The story of Palarivattom flyover is the story of how public infrastructure projects are implemented in Kerala—with elements of corruption, delays, substandard work and, most significantly, unwanted politicisation.
While the poor quality of work and materials is what caused the cracks on the flyover, the LDF government sensed a political opportunity in the unfortunate development because it was built during the previous UDF regime. An investigation was launched into the alleged irregularities, and several officials and a former UDF minister were named as accused. An IIT-Madras team that inspected the flyover found serious flaws but said the structure could be repaired.
The government, however, decided to go with Metro Man E Sreedharan’s plan of a more comprehensive overhaul—partial demolition and reconstruction. The Kerala High Court, on a petition challenging the government’s decision, ordered a load test before deciding the flyover’s fate. It’s this order that the Supreme Court overturned.
Whether to reconstruct or only repair it was a question that delayed any kind of action to make the flyover traffic-worthy again. The long wrangling reeked of ugly politics. Both the ruling LDF and opposition UDF should be held equally responsible for creating a situation where a crucial flyover, built with taxpayers’ money, had to be left unused for months together.
The government has claimed its plan will ensure the flyover’s safety for another 100 years. Now that it is free to execute its plan, it must walk the talk and give back the people of Kochi their flyover, stronger and safer. More importantly, it must do so within the promised deadline of eight months.