Overcoming several hurdles, the four-lane 4.5-km corridor from Pravachambalam to Kodinada of the 29.2-km Karamana-Kaliyikkavila stretch of the National Highway 66 was opened for traffic on Thursday.
Commissioning the stretch through videoconferencing at a function organised at Pravachambalam Junction, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government had been able to undertake NH development by acquiring land and overcoming delays. Even infra projects that had been abandoned were being executed and roads and bridges were being completed on a time-bound manner.
The Chief Minister said the Public Works Department (PWD) had alone spent ₹20,000 crore in the State in the last four years.
Presiding over the function, Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran said the government had been able to usher in development without any urban-rural divide. Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, Minister for Tourism and Cooperation Kadakampally Surendran, legislators, district panchayat president D. Suresh Kumar, block and grama panchayat members, and PWD officials were among those who spoke.
The 30.2 m-wide corridor, which has been given a BM&BC topping along the 21-m carriageway, has a centre median of three metre, footpath with tactile tiles on both sides, railings for safety, and utility duct of 1.20 m on both sides.
As many as 250 street lights have been provided on the centre median that can accommodate the pillars of the MRTS. High-mast lights and traffic signals have been provided at the Pravachabalam, Pallichal, Vedivachankovil, and Madavoorpara junctions.
₹112-crore work
Uralunkal Labour Contract Cooperative Society Ltd. had executed the work for the PWD National Highway wing at ₹112 crore. The funds for the Reach II had been mobilised from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). A sum of ₹281 crore had been spent on land acquisition. For the next 1.5-km stretch from Balaramapuram to Vazhimukku, the government has given administrative sanction for acquiring land. Steps to finalise alignment for four-laning of the 18.7-km stretch from Vazhimukku to Kaliyikkavila on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border is on.
