Kerala - Kochi   

Vallarpadam road works progressing

KOCHI: The work on the road connectivity for the proposed Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal is progressing well and is on course to be completed by November 2009, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) sources have said.

Talking to The Hindu, a senior official of the NHAI, which is the implementing agency of the road connectivity, said that works have been progressing smoothly for the last one month. “Almost all teething problems have been resolved,” he said.

Preparatory works like piling and laying the foundation of bridges and flyovers had already started. Initial work on the flyovers at the beginning of the project area was already underway. Road works had also been started in right earnest, the official said.

He said that the onset monsoon would have little effect on the progress of the work, as NHAI plans to continue with the foundation works during the period.

Meanwhile, the revenue officials said that 97.5 per cent of the land out of the total 43.75 hectares required for highway connectivity had been acquired. Except for Cheranalloor and Eloor villages, the acquisition process had been completed in all the other villages – Mulavukad, Kadamakkudy, Varapuzha, Thrikkakkara North and Kadungalloor.

Of the 615 land acquisition-related cases, only 44 cases remain to be settled. “These are very problematic cases. A package similar to the one offered to the residents of Moolamppilly is the main demand of the landowners who are yet to give consent letters to surrender their land,” the official said. The landowners are asking for rehabilitation and charges for shifting their possessions all at one go before handing over their land, the official said. This, she said, was not possible as there was no government direction to that effect.

The landowners who surrendered their land had either accepted the price fixed by the District Level Purchase Committee or else the land was taken over under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act.

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