Kerala - Kochi   

Land acquisition to be completed soon

KOCHI: A meeting to review the progress of the work on the road and rail connectivity at Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal and on the LNG terminal here was held at the Cochin Port Trust office on Saturday. The meeting was convened by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister T.K.A. Nair.

Chief Secretary P.J. Thomas assured the Union government that land acquisition for the rail and road connectivity projects would be completed by the end of this month. Mr. Thomas asked the District Collector to take over the land from those who had not accepted the price fixed by the district-level purchasing committee. Forty of the 43 hectares of land for the road connectivity had already been taken over. The remaining land would be handed over to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) before February 15. Land acquisition for the rail connectivity would be completed by February 29, Mr. Thomas said.

It was also decided to complete the port-related projects in a time-bound manner. Construction work of the LNG terminal would begin as soon as the concession agreement between Cochin Port Trust and Petronet LNG Limited was approved by the Union Cabinet, Mr. Nair said.

Two downstream projects too had been envisaged in connection with the LNG terminal. This included a cold storage to store the gas and a power plant. Power generation was possible at a low cost during the re-gasification process. The land for the power plant would be leased out by the Cochin Port Trust, said its chairman N. Ramachandran.

The NHAI will recommend the Union Ministry of Transport and Highways to give NH status to the Vypeen Coastal Highway, which starts from Kalamukku and joins NH 17 at Moothakunnam. The present road is 25.3 km long. The Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA) would meet the land acquisition cost for this project, said N. Gokul Ram, NHAI chairman.

Davinder P. S. Sandhu, Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office; Rakesh Srivatsava, Joint Secretary, Port, Ministry of Shipping; D.N. Narasimha Raju, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas; Mathew C. Kunnunkal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Fertilisers; P. Dasgupta, Chairman and Managing Director Petronet LNG Limited; Shivaram Raju, Director (Projects) NHAI; M. M. Ahuja, Vice-President (Technical), Petronet LNG Limited; Satheesh C. Agnihotri, Director (Projects), Rail Vikas Nigam Limited; G. Keshava Chandran, Deputy General Manager, RVNL; Tom Jose, Secretary, PWD; K. R. Jyothilal, Transport Secretary, Government of Kerala; Deputy Chairman of Cochin Port Trust Captain Subhash Kumar and District Collector A. P. M. Mohammed Hanish were among those who participated in the review meeting.

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