Seaport-Airport Road phase one extension likely to be over by August next year

Govt. sanctions Rs. 136 cr.; fund crunch hits four-laning work

November 12, 2014 11:08 am | Updated 11:08 am IST - KOCHI:

The Collectorate Junction has not been widened yet despite frequent accidents and huge traffic snarls.  FILE PHOTO

The Collectorate Junction has not been widened yet despite frequent accidents and huge traffic snarls. FILE PHOTO

The 2.70-km-long HMT-Naval Armament Depot stretch of Seaport-Airport Road is expected to be ready by August 2015, with the State government allotting Rs.136 crore for the road’s extension from HMT up to international airport.

“Of this, approximately Rs.100 crore will be handed over to land owners this month, while the balance will be used for road construction,” said Managing Director of Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK), A.P. M Mohammed Hanish.

Though the tentative deadline to complete the Rs. 662-crore works, including Rs. 400 crore for land acquisition, of the road’s 14-km-long airport extension is mid-2016, everything depends on availability of funds. Once completed, the road that begins from Karingachira in Tripunithura will run parallel to Aroor-Edappally NH 47 Bypass and NH 47, up to airport. This will considerably decongest the two NH corridors where passenger vehicles vie for space with goods carriers. Mr. Hanish said two bridges that were being built over Periyar River would be completed in another four months. “Land acquisition is awaited on the NAD-Periyar stretch and in the reach beyond the river up to the airport.” The HMT-NAD stretch is the project’s phase one, while NAD-Asokapuram-Mahilalayam stretch is phase 1-A, the two bridges phase 1-B and Chowara-airport reach is phase two.

Four-laning

Four-laning of the two-lane road that was commissioned in 2003 is getting over in the HMT-Bharat Mata College, Trikkakkara corridor, though land is available at 30-metre width up to Karingachira in the southern end. So far, only Rs. 25 crore has been sanctioned for works totalling Rs. 212 crore.

Next in line is four-laning up to Ernakulam Collectorate. The bottlenecked Collectorate Junction has not been widened despite frequent accidents and huge traffic snarls. Mr. Hanish said Central aid had been expected for possible road widening up to Infopark and SEZ.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.