Jisha Surya
Thiruvananthapuram: A last minute intervention of Trida chairman P K Venugopal and Kazhakkoottam MLA M A Vaheed altered the original plan to develop the Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram in 30 metres. Instead, they proposed a 24 metres wide road.
The road widening, which needs to be completed before launching the monorail work, will now be carried out for the compromised width only. Top sources in the government told TOI that chief minister Oommen Chandy had to bow to the pressure exerted by local Congress leaders Venugopal and Vaheed in the high-level meeting held on Wednesday to finalize the widening of Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road.
The widening of the road was suggested by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) when it carried out the feasibility study for monorail. Though 22 metre was the minimum width suggested by the DMRC to equip the road with monorail tracks on two-metre wide median in the middle of the road, Natpac, which conducted the feasibility study for road widening, suggested a 30-metre wide road.
“The new NH roads in the state will be of 45-metre width. The Karamana-Kaliyikkavila road is also going to be widened in 30 metres. The traffic along Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road is too heavy during peak hours and we thought only a 30-metre wide road can do justice to city folks. Moreover, we planned the road by looking at the demand for another 50 years,” said an official involved with the feasibility study.
But, on Wednesday, local politicians succeeded in influencing the high-level meeting by arguing about the practical difficulties in land acquisition. “We can’t ignore the inconvenience caused by land acquisition to the public. Even the DMRC has asked for just 22-metre width. Unlike the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila NH, the Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road has a six-lane NH bypass parallel to it,” said M A Vaheed. He said there is no need for service roads on either side. “Service roads are generally used for parking. Only the stretch between Sreekaryam and Kesavadasapuram is congested with parked vehicles. There we could propose construction of parking malls to resolve congestion,” he said.
Trida chairman P K Venugopal said land acquisition involves too much money and by reducing 30 metre to 24, they were able to save more than Rs 170 crore. “The proposed 24-metre width is more than enough and it could easily accommodate traffic for some years from now,” he said.
When asked whether any study was conducted to prove that 24 metre was enough for this busy stretch, Vaheed said DMRC report suggested that 22 metre was enough. “Natpac study proposes roads for the next 100 years. A 24-metre width will be enough for next 50 years,” Vaheed added.
The total cost of widening, including land acquisition, has been estimated at Rs 550 crore.
Thiruvananthapuram: A last minute intervention of Trida chairman P K Venugopal and Kazhakkoottam MLA M A Vaheed altered the original plan to develop the Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram in 30 metres. Instead, they proposed a 24 metres wide road.
The road widening, which needs to be completed before launching the monorail work, will now be carried out for the compromised width only. Top sources in the government told TOI that chief minister Oommen Chandy had to bow to the pressure exerted by local Congress leaders Venugopal and Vaheed in the high-level meeting held on Wednesday to finalize the widening of Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road.
The widening of the road was suggested by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) when it carried out the feasibility study for monorail. Though 22 metre was the minimum width suggested by the DMRC to equip the road with monorail tracks on two-metre wide median in the middle of the road, Natpac, which conducted the feasibility study for road widening, suggested a 30-metre wide road.
“The new NH roads in the state will be of 45-metre width. The Karamana-Kaliyikkavila road is also going to be widened in 30 metres. The traffic along Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road is too heavy during peak hours and we thought only a 30-metre wide road can do justice to city folks. Moreover, we planned the road by looking at the demand for another 50 years,” said an official involved with the feasibility study.
But, on Wednesday, local politicians succeeded in influencing the high-level meeting by arguing about the practical difficulties in land acquisition. “We can’t ignore the inconvenience caused by land acquisition to the public. Even the DMRC has asked for just 22-metre width. Unlike the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila NH, the Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road has a six-lane NH bypass parallel to it,” said M A Vaheed. He said there is no need for service roads on either side. “Service roads are generally used for parking. Only the stretch between Sreekaryam and Kesavadasapuram is congested with parked vehicles. There we could propose construction of parking malls to resolve congestion,” he said.
Trida chairman P K Venugopal said land acquisition involves too much money and by reducing 30 metre to 24, they were able to save more than Rs 170 crore. “The proposed 24-metre width is more than enough and it could easily accommodate traffic for some years from now,” he said.
When asked whether any study was conducted to prove that 24 metre was enough for this busy stretch, Vaheed said DMRC report suggested that 22 metre was enough. “Natpac study proposes roads for the next 100 years. A 24-metre width will be enough for next 50 years,” Vaheed added.
The total cost of widening, including land acquisition, has been estimated at Rs 550 crore.
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