The process of acquiring land for the western bypass road project, which began in 2014 and gained momentum in 2018, seems to be delayed further, according to sources.
The State Highways Department plans to develop a western bypass for Coimbatore for 32.43 km from Sugunapuram to Narasimhanaikenpalayam at a cost of ₹ 605 crore for the civil works. The project alignment, which was approved by the district road safety committee in 2014, passes through 15 villages and requires nearly 353 acres of both, private and government land. These are to be acquired at a cost of ₹ 320 crore, which is expected to be revised to ₹380 crore.
The sources said that as per the TamilNadu Highways Act 2001, 15 (2) the notification has been published for all the 15 villages and 15 (1) gazette notification published for 13 villages. Works are nearing completion for the remaining two villages too. The process of document registration is on at five villages.
The Department plans to implement the project in three phases, covering 11.8 km in phase one, 8.52 km in phase two, and 12.10 km in the final phase.
Civil works can commence only when at least 80 % of the land is acquired for a project. At present, acquisition process is one for just about 65 % land in phase one, the sources said.
District Collector G.S. Sameeran said the delay is mainly because of land value fixation. The fixation of value for land has to be cleared by the State-level price fixation committee. In Coimbatore, traditionally, the price fixed for acquisition is on the higher side. “We are asking for certain standards that we can follow for land price fixation and acquisition,”. Acquiring land for the project is only a “procedural delay” that will get cleared shortly. The other works are going on so that once the approval comes from the government the project can take off, he said.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, said the project was mooted almost 15 years ago. An alignment finalised then was revised. There may be different reasons for the delay, which may be valid, but the project is yet to take off. The land value should be finalised at the earliest so that works to develop the road takes off.