Work on the 167-crore six-lane flyover projects at Vyttila and Kundannoor will begin in November and will get over by May 2019, a senior Public Works Department (NH Wing) official said.
Tenders have been floated for work on the flyovers that are expected to decongest the two congested junctions on the Edappally-Aroor NH bypass. The work will be awarded in the second week of October.
The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) approved the flyover projects on Wednesday.
Two agencies
The approval of the board will considerably speed up the pace of short-listing the contractor, Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran told The Hindu .
“We have submitted a detailed project report [DPR] to KIIFB three months ago. The Kerala Road Fund Board will be the special purpose vehicle that will oversee the construction of the Vyttila flyover, while the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala will oversee the construction of the Kundannoor flyover. Both the agencies have been constituted under the PWD,” he said.
Mr. Sudhakaran added that steps would be taken to ensure prompt clearance of bills submitted by contractors, so that there would be no delay in the construction of the two structures that were expected to cost ₹85 crore and ₹82 crore.
The second phase of development work at Vyttila Junction will follow suit once the flyover comes up, a PWD official said.
It will take into account work that will be undertaken under the second phase of the Vyttila Mobility Hub project, where a bigger bus terminal has been planned alongside the upcoming Kochi metro station and boat terminal.
The consultant to be appointed will thus probe whether an underpass or any other structure can be built to link SA Road and Vyttila-Thripunithura Road, he added.
The official said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) too was keen on decongesting the bypass stretch, and a DPR on the construction of an alternative bypass linking Kundannoor with Angamaly was being prepared. Yet another study is under way on widening the Edappally-Aroor-Thuravur corridor into a six-lane road.
On the proposal for an underpass linking the Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass and NH 17 that begins from Edappally, the official said it would be considered when work on widening the Edappally-Kodungaloor stretch into a six-lane road begins.
