After more than five years of interruptions and protests, a lasting solution seems to be in sight for the vexed problem of Mulavukad service road with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) deciding to construct the road on its own, replacing the Kerala State Construction Corporation Limited (KSCCL).
District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla has received a letter from the NHAI, stating that the agency is prepared to construct the 2.60-km service road between Bolghatty and Kattathukkadavu, running parallel to the Container Terminal Road, on its own.
“The NHAI has said that it will directly construct the service road by replacing pipe culverts with concrete culverts in keeping with the public demand. The agency is also waiting for the green signal from its headquarters for constructing the road in a single phase instead of two phases as was originally planned. Hopefully, the approval will come soon,” Mr. Safirulla said.
The Collector had written to the NHAI last month after local residents at a stakeholders’ meeting demanded the execution of the ₹23 crore-project in one go.
However, the new development has left the KSCCL, which was roped in by the NHAI for the ₹4-crore first phase, in a quandary. The agency has no other option but to cancel the agreement it had entered into with a contractor.
“The NHAI is yet to intimate us about its decision formally. Once it is received, we will close the agreement,” KSCCL sources said.
But the contractor, M.D. Mahffos, who was given the work order over four months back, is determined to sue the agency in the event of cancellation of the agreement. He said he had taken a bank loan of ₹75 lakh for executing the project, entailing a monthly repayment ₹1.52 lakh, and had paid advance for material.
The KSCCL is planning to stake claim for compensation and expenses incurred for tendering of the work out of the ₹4 crore the NHAI has deposited with the district administration.
However, the NHAI has declined to pay compensation to the KSCCL or sub-contractors citing that the agency had already incurred a substantial loss due to the delay in toll collection on Container Terminal Road.
Local residents under the Mulavukad Janakeeya Samithi had opposed the collection of toll before the construction of the service road and had stopped the NHAI from launching toll collection on more than one occasion though the toll plaza was set up sometime ago.
Mr. Safirulla said the KSCCL had not officially staked claim to compensation.
