Approval for Coastal Highway alignment

Funds to be mobilised from infrastructure fund

The final alignment of the proposed 656.5-km Coastal Highway that will traverse through nine districts has been approved by the government.

The approval comes in the wake of the report of the Chief Engineer (National Highways), Public Works Department, that the alignment submitted by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac) is ‘feasible’.

The government has notified the approval of the alignment to take forward the project aimed at improving the road connectivity of the coastal belt.

The funds are to be mobilised from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).

The coastal highway will start from Poovar in Thiruvananthapuram and end at Kunjathoor near Thalapady in Kasaragod.

It will traverse through Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulum, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur districts. It is learnt that the PWD is preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) even though Natpac had expressed its willingness to undertake the work. The urgency of executing the project is one of the reasons for the PWD preparing the DPR.

The KIIFB has started steps to rope in Non-Resident Keralites (NoRKs) for the Pravasi Chitty of the Kerala State Financial Enterprises (KSFE) to mobilise funds for the construction of the 1,267-km Hill Highway and the Coastal Highway.

The progress of the works was reviewed at a KIIFB meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here last week.