The funds-starved Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) is banking on Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) to mobilise ₹60 crore for acquiring two acres to develop the Chilavannur Bund Road as a two-lane arterial corridor.
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The road that would link Thykoodam on NH Bypass with Thevara on M.G. Road runs parallel to S.A. Road. Once developed as a 15-metre-wide road, it would considerably augment east-west connectivity in Kochi and also decongest Vyttila and Pallimukku junctions.
The approximately ₹60 crore for land acquisition forms a chunk of the estimate of around ₹95 crore needed for the crucial road project to materialise.
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Land acquisition
A bulk of the land-acquisition expense is needed for acquiring land from a church and individuals. Their lands are located mostly on the bottlenecked Thykoodam side. The GCDA was hoping that the road project would be included in the list of projects under the KIIFB scheme in the 2023 State Budget. The road’s development is important, especially so since the widening of Thammanam-Pullepady road and its extension to M.G. Road on the western end and Chakkarapambu on NH Bypass on the eastern end is hanging fire.
Sources in the agency said that they were hopeful of KIIFB adopting a positive stance to fund the road project, since it had given its in-principle approval. The landowners might have to be provided alternative land in the vicinity and also relaxations while constructing houses and other structures in the alternative land given to them.
Land will also have to be acquired on the service road of NH Bypass to provide smooth connectivity from Thykoodam where bottlenecks abound.
SPV for project
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) is likely to implement the road project.