Both the Kochi Corporation and the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) seem to have been stirred into action, having encountered public wrath over the “inordinate delay” in clearing bottlenecks on Thammanam-Pullepady Road and Chilavannur Bund Road.

A review meeting will be convened soon to hasten the widening of the Thammanam-Pullepady Road that runs parallel to SA Road, said P.M. Harris, chairman of the works standing committee of the corporation. “Work is under way to widen the stretch between Karanakodam and Kathrikadavu. Concrete paver blocks will be laid this month atop the widened patch of land at Thammanam Junction,” he added.

On its part, the Public Works Department (PWD) remains non-committal despite its repeated announcements, the latest being in December 2017, that it would take over the road from the corporation and widen it into a four-lane corridor to decongest SA Road and Banerjee Road.

Only 720 metres of the 3.8-km stretch has been widened, over three decades since the corporation decided to develop the road. Only 60% of the land needed has been acquired or given as free surrender to the civic body.

The road has to be further extended to Padma Junction on M.G. Road and to Seaport Airport Road through Chakkaraparambu on the NH bypass.

A sum of ₹25 crore handed over to the district administration by the previous UDF government and ₹100 crore earmarked in the State Budget from KIIFB funds in 2017 are lying idle. A total of over ₹230 crore is required to develop the M.G. Road-NH bypass corridor alone, sources said.

Bottlenecked

The GCDA had received much flak for not widening a 200-metre portion of the Chilavannur Bund Road near Thykoodam on the NH bypass, despite huge traffic snarls at the nearby Vyttila Junction where flyover work is under way.

Responding to this, GCDA Chairman V. Salim said the agency would shortly convene a meeting of landowners who had refused to part with land in the bottlenecked portion.

“We reiterated that either alternative land or money can be provided to them [landowners]. They have so far not accepted our proposal for alternative land at Panampilly Nagar. According to rules, land cannot be provided in other areas since it has to be in the ‘project area’ or along the road’s alignment. It is better to take over the land by mutual understanding to prevent procedural delays. Other obstacles in the corridor can be cleared if this small portion is widened,” he observed.

The agency’s proposal to hew out a ring road around Ambedkar Stadium near the KSRTC bus station too is hanging fire as the corporation has issued building permits to a few structures on the alignment, Mr. Salim said.