The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) has decided to redevelop nine major junctions on Thripunithura SN Junction-Poothotta road as part of the project to widen the 13.40-km stretch into a four-lane corridor having 22-m width.
The decision has in turn prompted a revision of the detailed project report (DPR) on widening the busy corridor that links Ernakulam with Kottayam through Vaikom. The contract to hold additional study, including to lay survey stones, has been tendered. The junctions would be redeveloped, in keeping with the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) norms that emphasized ensuring a smooth and seamless flow of vehicles through junctions, sources said.
The junctions that will be developed include the busy SN Junction, East Fort Junction, Puthiyakavu, and Udayamperoor. The revised DPR, after taking into account the development needs of the nine junctions, will be ready by April. This will be followed by the laying of survey stones, followed by the land acquisition process. Land acquisition in the corridor had been halted since the social impact assessment (SIA) and other mandatory processes ought to be adhered to while acquiring land.
The KIIFB had in 2020 earmarked ₹450 crore to acquire land. Following this, PWD (Roads Wing) and the KRFB set an 18-month deadline in early 2021 to widen the corridor. In addition, the government had in 2021 given financial sanction to acquire approximately 12 hectares to widen the corridor and straighten curves.
TRURA concerns
The delay in widening the stretch, uncertainty over readying a 22-metre-wide road below the Kochi metro’s SN Junction-Thripunithura terminal station stretch, and extending it up to the Thripunithura Town-Hill Palace Road corridor had recently prompted Thripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents Associations (TRURA) to allege that little road infrastructure development had taken place in Thripunithura in the past few decades.
On Saturday, TRURA issued a release decrying the demand reportedly made by the Thripunithura municipality that the government help realise a 16-metre-wide road beneath the metro corridor. This has come at a time when a case filed by the apex body of residents’ associations seeking a 22-metre-wide road, as had been promised earlier by the civic body, is pending before Kerala High Court. A 22-metre-wide road is needed beneath the metro viaduct since a private bus stand has been envisaged near the railway station and the metro station, while there is huge commercial space being readied at the metro station, said V.P. Prasad and V.C. Jayendran, chairman and convenor respectively of TRURA.
