Even as traffic snarls along the 17-km Edapally-Aroor NH 66 corridor is set to worsen when the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) begins work on an elevated highway in mid-2024, uncertainty looms large about developing roads that take off from the stretch.
The alleged delay by the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) in finalising a compensation package has led to the stalemate over developing Chilavannur Bund Road that begins from Thykoodam, while the fate of the project to widen the 3.60-km NH bypass-Thammanam-Pullepady-MG Road as a four-lane stretch hangs in the balance due to alleged delay in handing over the stretch to the Public Works department (PWD).
The Local Self-Government department (LSGD) had handed over the stretch to the Revenue department, which in turn ought to have handed it over to the PWD in December 2023, the revised deadline. This did not happen and the Revenue authorities have sought more time to hand over to the PWD the land that had been acquired and also the tracts of land that have been marked to be acquired. Only then can rest of the land be acquired and the work to construct a four-lane road begin, informed sources said.
