With a view to tapping development opportunities, the State government will acquire around 600 acres on both sides of the West Coast Canal that runs almost parallel to the Arabian Sea and National Highway covering around 10 coastal districts in Kerala. The State is looking to create development opportunities in sectors such as industry, renewable energy, transport, tourism, trade, and agriculture, for which private land will have to be made available to the investors on the basis of the State’s public-private partnership (PPP) policy.
The State government has approved the proposal to transform the West Coast Canal into an economic trade corridor by inviting private investors to set up business. The Cabinet had recently given approval to conduct a study for assessment of economic development opportunities along the 616 km-long WCC by dividing the project area into 13 reaches.
The objective of the study is to consolidate the economic development opportunities of individual reaches to form an overall master plan and detailed project report for the waterway-oriented development for the entire corridor from Kovalam to Bekal. Once the master plan is prepared for each reach, land parcels identified for each development opportunity will be acquired by the government, for which ₹300 crore has been earmarked.
Land parcels
It is estimated that land parcels are necessary in all the 10 coastal districts along the WCC. About 30-60 acres of land need to be acquired in each district. For instance, the State has already identified around 70.7 acres of land between Akkulam in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam. Since most of the land parcels identified are under private ownership, the government will have to acquire the land to woo investors and kick-start the various PPP projects along the WCC corridor, according to S. Sureshkumar, chief engineer, Kerala Waterways and Infrastructure Ltd (KWIL), the special purpose vehicle created for the rejuvenation of the inland waterways in Kerala.
Master plan
The estimated cost for the preparation of the master plan is ₹12.24 crore, while the cost of the estimated land acquisition is ₹287.76 crore. The project will be funded through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The authorities are planning to hold the first trial run of cargo vessels through the West Coast Canal from Thiruvananthapuram to Chettuva in Thrissur in the first phase by the end of 2024.
