CMO soft-pedalling Ghat road project

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) is yet to approve the Public Works Department (PWD) plan to hire Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) for doing the project report for building two tunnels on the proposed alternative road that will help to reduce the distance between Kozhikode and Wayanad.

The PWD has planned to construct a 14.43-km road from Chippilithodu via Maruthilavu to Thalipuzha to divert a part of the existing traffic on the Wayanad ghat road. This will require building of two tunnels at Maruthilavu-Vythiri- Kalpetta and Anakkampoyil-Kalladi- Meppadi.

It was decided to hire the KRCL in view of its experience in railway tunnels. The distance of the proposed Anakkampoyil- Kalladi- Meppadi tunnel road will be 6 km while that of the Maruthilavu- Vythiri- Kalpetta road will be 13 km.

Light metro issue

However, sources said the CMO was soft-pedalling the proposal to hire the KRCL. One reason, sources said, could be the recent stand-off between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan and the Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation over the proposed light metro projects for Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram cities.

If the KRCL were to be tasked with the preparation of the tunnel projects, it would definitely employ the services of Mr. Sreedharan, who led the construction of the 760-km Konkan railway which has 93 tunnels and 150 bridges, the sources said.

However, officials said the CMO would not shelve the project since it would benefit thousands of people in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.

The distance from Kozhikode to Wayanad would be reduced to 54 km from the existing 85 km. An alternative road would be a solution to the traffic problems on the Ghat road, especially during monsoon. About 14,000 vehicles, including heavy vehicles, pass through the route daily. Already the Department of Finance has decided to fund the project via the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), a government-owned financial institution.

The road has to be constructed in 8.74 km in Kozhikode and 5.7 km in Wayanad district.

But as much as 4.85 hectares of forestland in Kozhikode district and 12 hectares of ecologically fragile land in Wayanad district fall in the proposed alignment. Thus the clearance of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change would be crucial even if the State government okayed the proposal, the sources said.