A new alignment for the widening of the 29.2-km Karamana-Kaliyikkavila stretch of the National Highway 47 passing through the capital district will be prepared within two days by the National Highways wing of the Public Works Department.
A joint verification by officials led by the District Collector will be carried out after the new alignment is prepared. Official sources said that the final alignment for the widening of the stretch would be formulated only after the joint verification.
A decision to this effect was taken after Minister for Public Works V. K. Ebrahim Kunju and Minister for Transport V. S. Sivakumar held talks with the people's representatives here on Wednesday.
A rough alignment for the NH stretch was presented by Chief Engineer, National Highway, Joseph Mathew at the meeting. People's representatives had opposed the earlier alignment proposed by the PWD.
Sixteen bus bays will be constructed within the 30.2-m carriageway. Earlier, it was decided to construct bus bays outside the carriageway.It has also been decided to make use of government land available in the busy stretch for the construction of bus bays.
Land acquisition
The 200-metre approach road to the Karamana bridge will be redesigned in an innovative way. With this, the approach road will have the same width as that of the bridge. This would minimise the land needed to be acquired in the area.
In Pravachambalam, the road widening will be taken up utilising government land. For ensuring the smooth flow of vehicles, the old road constructed during the reign of the Travancore kings will be developed and it would be made one-way. The 500-metre road on the right side of the NH has over 29 semi-permanent 29 buildings and the occupants would have to be rehabilitated. In Madavoorpara, houses will be exempted from road widening, it was decided at the meeting.
Design changes
Design changes have been incorporated in the stretch near Thekkapalli and Vazhimukku. No land acquisition will be needed on this stretch.
A. Sampath, MP; Deputy Speaker N. Sakthan; A.T. George, Jameela Prakasham, MLAs; Public Works Secretary Manoj Joshi; and the Chief Engineer T. Baburaj attended the meeting.
The alignment for widening the busy road into six lanes with a 30.2-metre carriageway at an estimated cost of Rs.690 crore was prepared almost two years ago. Initially, the survey was carried out for a 45-metre road. Opposition from people to land acquisition forced the authorities to go for another survey and a revised alignment limiting the width to 30.2 m. Though the widening work was inaugurated in November, 2010, by the then Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, it was stalled owing to protest from local traders and a section of the people.
