Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways, and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has assured proper compensation and resettlement for those people who surrender their land for widening Kerala’s National Highways (NHs).
After a meeting with Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju here on Thursday, he said the Centre was willing to expedite NH widening projects provided the State government acquired land in a time-bound manner.
“Kerala’s willingness to develop NHs at 45-metre width augurs well for the State that has a very high accident rate due to narrow and congested roads,” he said.
He said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) terminated work on three NH development projects in Kerala after land acquisition was stalled. The agency could resume work on the projects if the State assured timely land acquisition. Further relaxing NH width from 45 m would give rise to similar demand from other States too. But NH alignment could be marginally changed in areas where places of worship were located, based on the feedback from regional committees, he said.
New toll policy
Mr. Gadkari said that public–private partnership (PPP) initiatives in road development were essential to tide over the Centre’s ‘financial constraints.’ “We are striving to permit 100 per cent FDI in road development. A new toll policy will be announced in a month.”
Referring to the much-delayed Alappuzha and Kollam bypasses, Mr. Gadkari said the Centre was willing to share half the project cost of Rs.700 crore. “The Centre has handed over additional funds worth Rs.120 crore for periodic maintenance of Kerala highways. We will give more if required,” he said.
He promised all help to develop Mahe-Kozhikode NH.