The delay in land acquisition in certain stretches for road development is affecting work under the City Roads Improvement Project (CRIP).
Work being taken up on a total of 18.62 km, in various road corridors, is scheduled for completion by September.
“We have completed even bitumen works in 16 km (of the 18.62 km) taken up under the second phase. But the authorities have not handed over land in some critical areas, though the matter was taken up at the highest level,” an official of Trivandrum Road Development Company Ltd. (TRDCL), the implementing agency of CRIP, told The Hindu .
There is delay in handing over land belonging to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) near Ayurveda College on MG Road. Close to 600 metres of land along the cemetery and Mar Thoma Church at Pattoor would also be required. Acquisition would also be required for the construction of a flyover across the arterial road at Melepazhavangadi and relocation of shops behind the city bus stand at East Fort. The TRDCL had decided not to wait for the handing over of the land in these critical corridors. “Once the land is handed over and the utilities shifted, we will take up and complete the remaining work,” the official said. Till then, these areas will continue to be bottlenecks in the CRIP corridors. The 260-metre stretch extending from Pazhavangadi to East Fort and the Pulimoodu-Ayurveda College stretch will be the main bottlenecks on the arterial road.
The work on the Pazhavangadi - East Fort stretch can be taken up only after the construction of a flyover at Melepazhavangadi and relocation of traders on the Power House and Thakaraparambu roads. In Corridor III (extending from Museum to Overbridge via Bakery Junction and Thampanoor) the first layer of bitumen laying had been completed till Model School Junction. The work on the footpath and median was nearing completion. Traffic signals had been installed at the Panavila junction.
Vehicle movement would be streamlined and medians constructed at the General Hospital junction (in the Airport-Asan Square stretch, Corridor IV). In Corridors V and VI, TRDCL had decided to complete tarring up to the Parthas junction on the Power House road by the month end. Bitumen work will be completed in the Pattoor-Vanchiyoor stretch and on the West Fort-Sreekanteswaram stretch by August.
In the Pattom-Medical College-Ulloor stretch, TRDCL had decided to complete work in the Pattom-Pottakuzhi section by this month. The Murinjapalam bridge would be demolished to construct a four-lane bridge. A temporary bridge would be constructed. The 0.36-km Ulloor-Kochulloor road, to be developed under Phase II, is moving slow due to the delay in laying a sewage line. In Corridor 10, from Kowdiar to Peroorkada, the authorities had decided to put in place solar-powered traffic signals at Peroorkada. Work on 41.95 km had been taken up under CRIP — 14.26 km in the first phase, 18.62 in the second, and 9.06 km in the final phase. Under phase II, work was taken up on the 0.244-km LMS - Students Centre stretch, 1.35-km Vellayambalam – Sasthamangalam, 2.63-km LMS – Attakulangara, 2.02-km Museum - Bakery Junction – Thampanoor – Overbridge, 0.87-km Airport-MLA Hostel, 0.54 Vanross Junction - Secretariat west gate, 2.3-km Kowdiar - Pattom, 0.81-km Pattom – Murinjapalam - Medical College - Ulloor, 0.36-km Ulloor - Kochulloor, 2.01-km Kowdiar - Peroorkada, 1.43-km Peroorkada - Vazhayila, 1.02-km Attakulangara – Sreevarahom - Eenchakkal, and 2.98-km Murinjapalam - Poonthi Road - NH Bypass stretches.
