Thammanam-Pullepady road project gets a fresh push

The proposed 3.70-km-long road corridor project is expected to improve east-west connectivity in Kochi.

After years of uncertainty, there is a ray of hope for the widening and extension of the Thammanam-Pullepady road in the city to M.G. Road and the national highway (NH) bypass, with the publication of the 11(1) notification to acquire land for the proposed 3.70-km-long road corridor project.

According to the notification, a final survey will be conducted to determine the extent of land required from each plot for road widening. This will be followed by the finalisation of the boundaries on either side of the proposed 22-metre-wide road and an assessment of the value of different types of buildings on the land, it is learnt.

Official sources said that since the 11(1) notification was published for the road project that had been taken up under the KIIFB scheme (whose fate is now uncertain), the State Government is likely to announce a package to fund this and similar projects whose 11(1) notification had been readied.

Responding to the significance of the notification for the project, which ought to have been completed three decades ago and would have considerably augmented east-west connectivity in the city, Ernakulam MLA T.J. Vinod said the 19(1) notification should follow to expedite land acquisition.

“The 11(1) notification is the outcome of the State government posting an adequate number of surveyors for the road project. A special package is likely to be announced to take the project forward. For now, the District Collector has been convening review meetings to assess the progress of the work,” he added.

On concerns that traffic snarls could worsen on the northern side of the bottlenecked Kathrikadavu bridge when the 22-metre-wide, four-lane road is opened to traffic, Mr. Vinod said a roundabout had been planned there to streamline the flow of vehicles. Constructing an overbridge at the location would be difficult, as people who had surrendered their land free of cost for the road project had since put up new buildings there. Moreover, a Jewish cemetery is located nearby.

At Chakkaraparambu Junction, where the proposed road would merge with the Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass, an overbridge would be necessary to prevent traffic congestion from worsening and to extend the road further towards Infopark. However, a new building that has come up at the junction is likely to pose an obstacle to this. “I have directed the Kerala State Audit department to hold the civic officials concerned liable for issuing the building permit despite knowing that the road was to be extended further eastward,” he added.

Thrikkakara MLA Uma Thomas, through whose constituency the Thammanam-Pullepady road and its NH bypass extension pass, said she had sought a status report on the project from the District Collector and asked the Mayor to convene a meeting to address the delays.

“The widening and extension of the road will yield the desired result of improving east-west connectivity in Kochi only if it is extended further eastward from Chakkaraparambu to the Infopark Expressway.”

“For this, I have instructed the Edappally South Village Officer to prepare a sketch of the alignment following the recent resurvey. Land acquisition for the project would not entail major rehabilitation, as there are large stretches of puramboke land along the alignment, while most of the remaining land comprises vacant plots. The extension to Infopark would ease congestion on the other narrow roads that commuters currently use,” she said.