Efforts are under way to kick-start the land acquisition process and finalise the inland navigation route in the district as part of the proposed Payyoli-Bekal portion of the waterway connecting the rivers and backwaters in the region. The work will be carried out by Kerala Waterways Infrastructures Ltd (KWIL).
The multicrore project, planned to be completed by 2025 in three phases, envisages the development of inland navigation links from Peringathur to Valapattanam. Land acquisition and route finalisation work are expected to be accelerated with the creation of KWIL, a joint venture of the State government and Cochin International Airport Ltd. formed to develop the inland waterways in the State connecting Kovalam with Kasaragod. An estimated 500 acres will be acquired for the development of the Peringathur-Valapattanam stretch that will form part of the waterway linking Kovalam and Bekal.
“The development of the waterway stretch from Peringathur to Valapattanam is a major work as it requires development of three new canals linking the rivers,” said K. Nandanan, executive engineer of the Inland Navigation Division (IND) here which is in charge of the waterway development from Payyoli in Kozhikode to Kasaragod. Unlike the 17.61-km-long Vadakara-Mahe canal project to link the Kuttiyady and Mahe rivers, for which land had been acquired way back in the 1960s, land had to be acquired for the proposed water stretch in this district, he said adding that efforts are under way for kick-starting procedures for land acquisition on the basis of special rehabilitation package.
The 10-km-long proposed canal linking the Mahe and Eranholi rivers is the longest land cut in the inland navigation route being developed in the district. It passes through Palathayi, Elankode, Kannamvally and Mokeri. An estimated 90 households in the 150 acres identified for acquisition in the area will be rehabilitated. The 1-km second canal at Kuyyali connecting the Eranholi and Dharmadam rivers involves acquisition of 11 acres and rehabilitation of 20 households. The alignment of the 15-km canal connecting the Dharmadam and Kattampally rivers is expected to require an estimated 250 acres of land. The canal passes through Mamakunnu, Kadachira, Chala, Varam and Chelora. The alignment will be finalised in a week, IND engineers said.
The completion of these canals will ensure a navigation route from Kovalam to Bekal as an 80-km-long waterway covering rivers and backwaters already exists from Valapattanam to Neeleswaram in Kasaragod. The first phase of the Payyoli-Neeleswaram waterway route would be completed in 2020, while the second and third phases would be finished in 2023 and 2025 respectively, the engineers said. Plans are also under way to develop feeder routes, including the one from Mamakunnu to Keezhattur, near the Kannur airport. The ongoing work on the Vadakara-Mahe stretch (from Moozhikkal to Thuruthimukku in Kozhikode) is progressing as per the plan.
