Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran has said the Central government’s response does not keep pace with the State government according top priority to infrastructure projects including the development of national highways into four-lane roads.
Inaugurating the Taliparamba-Iritty Road development works at Taliparamba here on Saturday, Mr. Sudhakaran said the tender proceedings for the works of two reaches of the national highway starting from Kasaragod were yet to be completed though it had been started 15 months ago.
The Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had given the assurance that the work could be contracted in January, he said, exuding the hope that the NH development work could be started without further delay. The proceedings for constructing railway overbridges, flyovers, bypasses and bridges to be carried out before the NH development works were progressing, he added.
Though it was natural that land acquisition for road development would cause inconvenience to some people, the government’s effort was to minimise such difficulties. Areas having paddy fields and houses were being acquired for road development in unavoidable circumstances, he said, adding that the government was giving best compensation package for land owners losing their land and structures. Estimated cost of NH development was ₹50 crore per kilometre, he said.
Road projects
He said works with a total estimated cost of ₹500 crore, including eight road projects sanctioned under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) estimated at ₹283 crore, were being implemented by the PWD in Taliparamba Assembly constituency.