The Thripunithura Bypass Action Council has demanded that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) publish details of the revised alignment of Kochi-Theni NH 85 that would be developed as a four-lane corridor.
Landowners who had surrendered land for the Thripunithura bypass and those whose properties were frozen for the bypass project over three decades ago are eager to know the revised alignment, especially on the Mattakuzhi-Mamala-Thiruvankulam stretch, and allied details such as the progress of survey, land acquisition notification and price negotiation, said Alias A.V., president of the action council, in a letter addressed to the NHAI’s Kochi office.
The NHAI says the DPR is not ready, although the Centre and the State government have earmarked funds for land acquisition. The NHAI must also specify the location in Puthencruz where the Kochi-Theni highway would cross the Kundannoor-Angamaly NH bypass that the agency has proposed. It must also lay survey stones on the NH’s alignment through the land that had been frozen for the Thripunithura bypass on the Nettoor/Kundannoor-Mattakuzhi stretch, said K.M. Baby, a landowner on the stretch.
The development of the NH through Thripunithura will bring about a seaport link for the Seaport-Airport road that now ends at Karingachira. This will also hasten the convergence of half a dozen roads and NH corridors at Thiruvankulam, he said.
The areas that had been acquired over three decades ago for the Thripunithura bypass had been integrated in the revised alignment of the Kochi-Theni NH, which the NHAI would widen to establish port-to-port connectivity between Kochi and Tuticorin, through Munnar and Theni, it is learnt.
As per the revised alignment, the NH would take off a kilometre south of Kundannoor Junction on the Edappally-Aroor NH bypass, to prevent multiple roads converging at Kundannoor.
