The State Empowered Committee approved the rates finalised by the district-level purchase committee for land acquisition in Kochi as part of the Metro Rail project.
District Collector P.I. Sheikh Pareed said that according to the approved rates land acquired for widening of main roads like Banerjee Road, M.G. Road and South Railway State road will get compensation at the rate of Rs. 52 lakh per cent . The rate was finalised after many rounds of discussions by the District Collector with land owners.
All agree
With the rate being approved, the district administration can go ahead with acquisition after paying 80 per cent of the due amount. Almost all the land owners along these roads agreed to hand over land at this rate, said an official press release.
The empowered committee also approved the rate of Rs. 24 lakh for a cent for acquiring land for foot overbridge near the KSRTC bus stand and also the rate of Rs. 18.50 lakh for a cent for acquiring land for approach road to Ponnurunni railway overbridge, said Mohandas Pillai, Deputy Collector, who represented the District Collector at the panel meeting held at Thiruvananthapuram.
Four projects
The high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary also approved the decision to acquire land for four other development projects.
The committee approved decision to acquire 8.51 acre out of total 20 acre required for widening of Thammanam-Pullepady Road, 86 cents for Korankadavu Bridge, 2.6505 hectare for bridges across Periyar along the Airport-Seaport Road, and 51 cents for Mattathamkadavu bridge connecting Amballur and Udayamperoor.
