The decks have been cleared for acquiring land to widen the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium-Kakkanad stretch of the road to implement Kochi metro’s Kakkanad extension, with the Revenue Department issuing the final notification for the purpose.
The aim is to hew out a 22-metre-wide, four-lane corridor on the 11.20-km stretch for the ₹2,500-crore metro extension. “The notification has been issued under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013. The land acquisition has to be completed within one year. We are confident of completing the process ahead of this time, since the stretch is being widened for the metro. Altogether, over seven acres of land has to be acquired,” said sources in the Revenue Department.
The valuation of plots was currently under way, following which documents submitted by the land owners would be examined. Buildings, mainly shops, would have to be partially or fully demolished to make way for the four-lane road. There was plenty of “poramboke” land on the corridor, which fell into the hands of encroachers over the past many decades. All such land would be reclaimed, they said.
An environmental and social impact assessment of the project got over much earlier, following which the widening project encountered a road block. The final notification will hopefully catalyse metro's extension to the IT hub. The Centre had accorded in principle approval for the extension in February 2019.
Thripunithura extension
In the meantime, land acquisition has not begun for the metro’s extension from SN Junction to Thripunithura Railway Station. “Funds are awaited from the State government since neither the KMRL nor the Thripunithura Municipality has funds for the purpose,” KMRL sources said.
Since September 2019, the metro agency has been engaged in constructing the metro viaduct on the Pettah-SN Junction stretch and two stations en route. Work on the pier caps is under way after a two-month hiatus due to the lockdown. The stretch is scheduled to be commissioned by 2021-end.