The acquisition of a total of 6.29 acres of private land and 43 cents of railway land needed for the Kochi metro’s Phase 1-B S.N. Junction-Thripunithura extension will be completed in four months, District Collector S. Suhas has said. Its social-impact assessment (SIA) was approved in May, following which a Section 11 (1) notification (under Land Acquisition Act, 2013) was issued a week ago, he added.
Kakkanad extension
On the metro’s phase-B extension to Kakkanad, he said a total of 386 (land) holdings were to be acquired in the 10-km Palarivattom-Infopark reach. From this, 30 parcels of land were handed over to Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and 156 awards (to compensate landowners) were passed. Their possession can be taken up any time and handed over to the metro agency. All holdings will be handed over to KMRL by August. The agency need not wait till then to begin road-widening works, since it can be done in plots that were handed over. The survey to acquire land in the 1.20-km Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium-Palarivattom stretch is getting over and the land will be handed over to KMRL by December. There is good coordination between metro and revenue officials, Mr. Suhas said.
Water metro
He said land has to be acquired for 21 of the total 34 jetties of Water Metro. The draft declaration to take over land for 14 jetties was published, and a compensation package will be shortly announced. Land for the balance seven jetties, for which S. 11 (1) notification was issued, will be acquired on the basis of an expert committee report. He said joint inspection of land is needed for the Integrated Urban Regeneration and Water Transport System (IURWTS). A special officer has been appointed to oversee land acquisition, and an SIA will follow.
