Kerala - Kochi   

Working of GIDA comes to a standstill

KOCHI: The working of Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA), constituted in 1994 to plan the development of islands neighbouring Ernakulam, is at a standstill now with the General Council of the Authority failing to meet over the past 17 months.

The last meeting of the General Council was held on May 10, 2007 and since then, the activities of the Authority have slowed down considerably, it is learnt.

The immediate casualty of the delay is the finalisation of the Coastal Highway, a project that will provide substantial road connectivity to the proposed International Container Transhipment Terminal on Vallarpadam Island, one of the key areas under the GIDA jurisdiction.

The survey for the Coastal Highway, linking Puthuvypeen and Moothakunnam, on National Highway No. 17, has been completed.

The alignment for the 26-km Coastal Highway has been approved by the special government committee appointed for the purpose, sources said.

What needs to be done now are further orders and initiatives for the development of the Coastal Highway.

Surveys conducted so far for the project, envisaged once as one of the most important and urgent projects for Kochi’s development, show that a substantial acreage has to be acquired to implement it.

The building of the road link would require around 236 acres, spread over eight villages, including in Moothakunnam, which is outside the GIDA jurisdiction. A total of more than 330 structures will be affected by the project.

The survey of the land for rehabilitation too is nearly complete and a directive to act on these initial works is needed now so that the Coastal Highway project can go forward.

The authorities are looking for about 30 acres of land for rehabilitation of the people who will be affected by the project.

Majnu Komath, chairman of Goshree Action Council, who led an agitation for the Goshree bridges for nearly two decades, pointed to the incomplete Goshree-Chathiayath Road as the prime example of the inaction of GIDA.

Nearly, the entire length of the road linking the first Goshree bridge to Chathiayath, including work on the two small bridges has been completed.

What needs to be completed are the approach road and a small stretch near Chathiayath.

These have remained incomplete for over two years now, said Mr. Komath. He alleged that the people in the islands off Ernakulam were yet to reap the full benefits of the Goshree bridges.

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