Uncertainty prevails about the development of Chilavannoor Bund Road that held immense potential to decongest Vyttila Junction and S.A. Road, even as Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has commenced work to rebuild and widen a bridge on the corridor.
Over the past two decades, motorists and residents have been demanding a package to rehabilitate or compensate about a dozen landowners on the stretch in order to widen bottlenecked parts of the road that is owned by the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA). The development of the approximately 3.50-km road that runs parallel to S.A. Road, and will link Thykoodam located south of Vyttila Junction with Thevara on M.G. Road, is critical to augment the much-needed connectivity to Kochi city from NH Bypass.
The GCDA was banking on ₹95 crore that was expected from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) to develop the road as a two-lane corridor. With this not working out, the agency is trying to rehabilitate residents in alternative plots of land in the city, it is learnt. “Discussions are under way with the residents and others, including a church, in this regard. We hope to arrive at a settlement by March, so that the road can be developed in another 20 months [by October 2025] in tandem with the commissioning of the bridge that is being rebuilt,” said official sources.
The GCDA had been banking on negotiated purchase of land, to avoid paying compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
“Altercations between motorists were the norm at bottlenecked parts on the corridor till last week, when traffic regulations were imposed in connection with the bridge work,” said Antony Adichiyil, whose land was scheduled to be partly acquired for the road project. “The GCDA invited landowners for discussions many times. Every time, it attempted to ‘undervalue’ our lands and to ‘overrate’ the value of the land they offered us,” he said.
It would result in residents and others standing to get only one-third of the extent of land they would have to surrender for the road, and resulted in many people demanding compensation in cash. The frequent change of stance of the GCDA made matters worse, he added.
