It is doubtful whether NH 66 development in Kerala can be completed by the scheduled deadline of 2025-end, since the State government is yet to take a call on waiving GST and royalty for, among others, the 44-km Kundannoor-Angamaly Kochi bypass, and due to the problems in sourcing raw materials like mud.
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Key officials associated with the project said that a decision on the waiver for national highway corridors like this that were proposed years ago, was awaited at the ‘highest level’. “The NH 66 that stretched from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod will in all probability be developed by the revised deadline of 2025-end, barring the elevated highway being built in the 13-km Aroor-Thuravur stretch that would get over only by 2026, and a similar elevated structure on the 16-km Aroor-Edappally stretch which is still in the DPR-preparation stage.”
The State government has supposedly not taken a decision on waiving GST and royalty since it is facing acute paucity of funds. In this situation, neither can it give 25% of the land acquisition cost as an alternative measure, for the same reason. Moreover, such funds sharing for highway development is not being done in any other State, they added.
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Responding to a question posed by N.K. Premachandran, MP, in the Lok Sabha on December 7 on the proposed development of the greenfield NH 744 corridor through Kollam, Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, had said that the Kerala government had requested his ministry to exempt it from sharing 25% of the land acquisition cost. “On this, the ministry requested the Government of Kerala to exempt State GST and royalty for the said project. Reply to the same is awaited from Kerala,” Mr. Gadkari said in his reply.
Peeved at the State government’s delay in deciding on the waiver, critics have been citing how this would phenomenally increase the cost of land acquisition and project execution. This would also close a revenue source in the form of different taxes from new buildings that would come up along the stalled greenfield highways and from the registration of new title deeds, among others.
Muvattupuzha MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan recently expressed concern at the government’s unwillingness to invest 25% of the land acquisition cost for the Kadathi-Karakunnam bypass that passed through his constituency, although rest of the expenses were to be borne by the Central government. He further took exception to how this resulted in its proposed width having to be reduced from 45 m that was mentioned in the DPR to 30 m, so that the project could be executed without the State government funding.