Kerala - Kannur   

North Malabar roads creak under traffic

Mohamed Nazeer

North Malabar, woefully lacking in road infrastructure, has been pinning its hopes on development of NH 17, covering a distance of 168 kilometres, to put it on the fast track to growth. But the region's dream of fast-paced road infrastructure development remains just that - a dream - despite zooming growth in traffic over the years and many a promise of better days ahead.

KANNUR: If major roads in North Malabar bear testimony to the lack of road infrastructure to cope with the rising traffic in the region, there is no better evidence of this negligence than the National Highway 17 that passes through the Kannur and Kasaragod districts and Mahe.

The entire 168-km stretch of the NH 17 from Thalappady in Kasaragod to Azhiyur, south of Mahe, is a bottleneck barring a few short reaches along the stretch. There has been no scarcity of projects to improve the quality of the NH, though paucity of funds and non-availability of land is still a major hurdle to its development.

The NH 17 in this part of the region is little better than what it was before 1973. Since the re-christening of the erstwhile West Coast Road as NH 17 32 years ago, very little has been done to improve and strengthen it to cope with the increasing intensity of road traffic.

Central allocation

Central allocation for NH development in the State has been hardly adequate to make that dream a reality. The annual Central allotment to the State for NH works is Rs.70 or Rs.80 crores and the Kannur NH Division that looks after the Thalappady-Azhiyur stretch alone has proposed projects worth Rs.100 crores.

"NH 17 is possibly the worst highway in the world," says Kannur MP A.P. Abdullakutty. Apart from maintaining the surface of the highway, there has been absolutely no effort to straighten and widen it, he says.

Rise in traffic

According to NH Division officials here, the traffic volume is on the rise, both in terms of number of vehicles and their size and load. The traffic count taken at various points of the NH here twice a year records a 10 to 15 per cent increase a year. All points in the PCU (per car unit) is above 20,000 per day, while the PCU between Valapattanam and Chovva here is nearly 50,000. The existing two-lane NH is unable to handle this huge traffic load, the officials say.

The inclusion of the highway from Thalappady to Kuttippuram under the National Highway Authority of India's (NHAI) National Highway Development Project is the only development that can cheer the people, who still consider four-laning of the highway here a distant dream.

Detailed report

The NHAI has called for a detailed project report of this four-laning work included in the Phase III of the NHDP, says T. Baburaj, Chief Engineer, Public Works Department (NH). The NHAI would shortlist companies for the consultancy and survey work is expected to start in two or three months, he says.

A major bottleneck along the highway in the region is the stretch from Valapattanam to Azhiyur. Lack of land width aggravates the problem. Two proposed bypasses and two railway over bridges (ROBs) would have been an answer to this bottleneck.

Bypass proposal

The proposal for an 18-km-long Thalassery-Mahe bypass from Muzhappilangad to Azhiyur, which includes construction of two bridges, has been gathering dust for decades. It has been awaiting sanction from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), though land for a length of 9.742 km (Muzhappilangad to Kodiyeri) has been acquired. The proposal was to develop the bypass in two phases. A Rs.44-crore estimate for the first phase has already been submitted.

The NH Division here has also submitted a Rs.29-crore estimate for acquisition of the remaining land.

Lack of land

According to Mr. Abdullakkutty, lack of availability of land is hampering the NH development in the region. Cost of land acquisition was taking a major share of the Central allocation for road projects, including the Thalassery-Mahe bypass project, he says.

The high cost of land also explains the huge project cost of the proposed Rs.60-crore Kannur bypass starting from Valapattanam and ending at the existing Chovva-Nadal bypass. Now that the Thalappady-Kuttippuram stretch has been included in the NHDP Phase III, the NHAI will take care of the land acquisition for this second bypass, says Mr. Baburaj.

The sanctioning of Rs. 3 crores by MoRTH for a 370-metre-long bridge parallel to the existing Moidu bridge across the Anjarakkandy river, thanks to the initiative of Public Works Minister M.K. Muneer during the recent visit of Union Minister for Surface Transport T.R. Balu, makes a start on the Thalassery-Mahe bypass, according to M.A. Abdul Rasheed, Executive Engineer (General), NH North Circle, Kozhikode, who also served as Executive Engineer in the NH Division here till recently. The estimate for the bridge with approaches is under preparation, he adds.

Land acquisition proposals for the ROBs at Chovva and Nadal have also been awaiting clearance since 2001, though the general agreement drawings for both these ROBs have been approved by both the Railways and the NH authorities. Detailed estimates of Rs. 12 crores each for the ROBs at Padannakkad and Pallikara in Kasaragod have already been submitted and are included in the Annual Plan 2005-06.

Stumbling blocks

Apart from non-availability of land, electric and telephone posts close to the margin of the NH in the region is also a stumbling block to the NH development. The NH Division here had identified 1250 electricity posts and 500 telephone posts within 1.5 metres of the edge of the NH in Kannur district alone. Though some action for shifting the posts has been initiated, the work still remains incomplete.

The NH 17 passing through the region will soon become antiquated if it is not developed to suit the present and future traffic needs, especially when rapid road infrastructure development works are under way in the country including the Golden Quadrilateral project connecting the metros and North-South (that includes Kochi-Salem spur) and the East-West corridors.

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