Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac will directly monitor the progress of development projects funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) in Alappuzha town.
Speaking at a meeting held to review the projects, Dr. Isaac directed the officials concerned to initiate steps to begin the construction of the district court bridge, power house bridge (Shavakottapalam) and the Kommady bridge after the southwest monsoon season.
Tenders invited
“We have already invited tenders for the projects. The District Collector has been directed to hasten the process of land acquisition. The Collector will review the progress of the projects every two weeks. Further, Minister-level review meetings will be convened once every two months,” the Minister said.
Canal rejuvenation
In another meeting, the Minister reviewed the ongoing canal rejuvenation project in the district. Dr. Isaac directed the district administration to look into the complaints of encroachments.
The Minister suggested the setting up of CCTV cameras with the help of the police to ensure that the renovated canals were protected.
Earlier, the State government had sanctioned ₹108 crore under the KIIFB for the restoration of canals. The project is expected to be completed in four phases. The first phase of the restoration of canals is nearing completion at a cost of ₹39 crore. As part of the first phase of the project, nine major canals and 15 sub-canals are being cleaned and deepened.
They include Vade Canal, Commercial Canal, West Junction Canal, East Junction Canal, Uppootti Canal, Murinjapuzha Thodu, Kottaram Thodu, Alappuzha-Sherthala (AS) Canal, and Alappuzha-Ambalapuzha Canal.
For bund building
The silt removed from the canals in the district will be used to construct outer bunds of the Rani, Chithira, R Block, D Block and other paddy polders in Kuttanad.
In the next stage, salt water from the sea will be allowed into the canals.
Recently, the Alappuzha municipality also launched a project for the scientific cleaning of waste choked canals in its limits.
As part of it, 141 small canals will be revived and protected.
The canals will be deepened after removing silt and waste. All encroachments on the banks of the canals will be evicted and outlets draining waste into the canals will be blocked.
Under AMRUT
The project is being funded under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.
In the next phases, other canals in the district will be renovated.
