With the Thamannam-Pullepady overbridge opened for traffic, the civic authorities are planning to remove the bottlenecks along the stretch. The insufficient road connectivity to the overbridge had resulted in traffic snarls along the bridge.
According to the Kochi Mayor Mercy Williams, the corporation has initiated a few steps to address the issue. It has asked the Kerala State Electricity Board to relocate some electric posts and a transformed located on the road. The KSEB will soon submit an estimate for the work, and the Mayor's fund would be used for this purpose, the Mayor said.
The roads will be widened at all available spaces. The corporation is also seeking the possibility of implementing a road development scheme without waiting for the Detailed Town Planning scheme for the area to come into effect. It will seek special permission from the government for this, Ms. Williams said.
Directions were issued to develop road and drains in areas which were in the possession of the civic body, she said.
A team of civic authorities including M. Anilkumar, chairman, Works Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation, K.V. Manoj, chairman, Tax Appeals Standing committee, Ajith V Patil, corporation secretary, and N.M. Nahas, Project Engineer, inspected the area to identify the bottlenecks on Wednesday morning.
The corporation will hold discussions will the owners of some holdings in the stretch for completing the land takeover formalities, said Mr. Anilkumar.
The corporation and some land owners had earlier reached an understanding to swap the holdings. The civic body will provide the tenants some holdings in its possession in lieu of the land on the road. Negotiations will also be held with some small-scale traders and land owners shortly to obtain land for the development project.
There are also plans to buy a house located on the road using the Mayor's fund so that the obstruction could be cleared, Mr. Anilkumar said.
Once these projects are implemented, motorable space of minimum 15 metre-width would be added to the existing road, which would help in streamlining the traffic along the stretch.
The corporation hopes to complete the works within one month, he said.
