Inordinate delay in widening bottlenecked roads has resulted in only 16 of the total 444 girders being launched in the Kaloor-Maharaja’s College Ground corridor of the Kochi metro rail project. Subsequently, the casting of girders at Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s yard at FACT land in Kalamassery has slowed down since there is little space left for storing them.
“Already, approximately 60 per cent of the total 444 girders required in the corridor have been cast and are ready for launch. But they cannot be launched even if traffic is diverted during night because there is insufficient space for heavy duty cranes and other machinery to manoeuvre. Each U-girder weighs 120 tonnes, while an I-girder weighs 40 tonnes. Apart from hampering girder launch, the unjustifiable delay in land acquisition is also smothering traffic movement all through the day. Even worse, construction of ducts to relocate cables and pipelines is yet to commence at M.G. Road and many other parts of the city due to the tardy pace of land acquisition,” metro sources said.
Though all these have considerably held up metro’s civil works in the city, metro officials expressed hope that they would be able to make up for lost time if the district administration handed over land in the coming fortnight for widening roads. Delay in relocating sewage pipes had led to many of the pipes developing leaks and damaging roads.
The managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Limited, Elias George, said the onus of land acquisition rests on the District Collector since he was the ‘land acquisition officer’. “He has promised to convene a meeting of owners who are yet to hand over land. We hope to belatedly obtain possession of four plots of land owned by big businesses by the month end so that civil works can begin from February,” Mr. George said.
A senior official in charge of land acquisition said a decision would be taken soon on whether to opt for forcible acquisition of land or to give land owners more time.
Only 16 girders launched on Kaloor-Maharaja’s College ground stretch
Delay in land acquisition affecting traffic movement