Uncertainty prevails over the proposed 16-km Edappally-Aroor elevated highway on the National Highway 66 Bypass even as its detailed project report is expected to be ready by December.
This is because the Centre has yet to reinstate it in the Bharatamala project, reportedly due to delay on the part of the State government in taking a call on exempting it and the 44-km Kundannur-Angamaly Greenfield NH 66 Bypass from Goods and Services Tax (GST) and payment of royalty for raw materials, informed sources said.
The congested largely four-lane Edappally-Aroor bypass presently caters for over one lakh passenger car units (PCUs) every day and is considered the busiest NH stretch in Kerala. It would in all likelihood become a choking point on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod NH 66 stretch, the rest of which is slated for commissioning in March 2025, if there is any further delay in realising the elevated highway.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would include the stretch in the Bharatamala project soon after the DPR is ready, only if the State government, which is unlikely to pool in with 25% of the land acquisition cost, decides on whether it would waive GST and royalty components. Unlike in most other NH 66 stretches, land acquisition in the Edappally-Aroor NH corridor is expected to be minimal and confined mostly to the four major junctions to widen narrow bell mouths, bottlenecked areas and to hew out space for the elevated highway that would in all probability be built parallel to the flyovers. A decision on widening the junctions will be taken based on suggestions by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), according to sources.
The elevated highway is expected to merge with a similar 13-km elevated corridor that is expected to be readied on the Aroor-Thuravoor NH stretch by 2026.
