Land acquisition for widening the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu stretch of National Highway-212 will be completed by the Revenue Department at an estimated cost of Rs.345 crore within a year.
A decision in this regard was taken at a district-level meeting chaired by Public Works Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju here on Sunday.
As per the directive given to the officials concerned, the entire work related to the road widening project should be completed before April 2015. The Minister said the entire road development projects in the city would be affected if the project was not completed within the stipulated timeframe.
As per the estimate presented at the meeting, after the acquisition process, an additional Rs.180 crore would be needed for the construction of the road. To get this amount sanctioned, the Minister would hold discussions with the Chief Minister, the Finance Minister and the Revenue Minister.
The government would reconsider the decision to close down the project office of the Roads and Bridges Corporation, the Minister said.
District-level meetings would be convened every month to review the project progress. Panchayats Minister M.K. Muneer would chair the meetings. The PWD Minister would also hold quarterly review meetings.
Land details submitted
The tahsildar, in charge of supervising the land acquisition process, told the meeting that the details of the land to be acquired had already been handed over to the District Collector. The shortage of staff for coordinating the acquisition work was raised at the meeting and the Minister said the issue would be settled after holding discussions with the Chief Minister.
A local action council led by historian M.G.S. Narayanan had been formed demanding speedy completion of the work. Following the meeting on Sunday, the samiti has decided to postpone the dharna planned by it to raise the demand.
