Demolition for Sreekaryam flyover to begin Tuesday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The long-pending Sreekaryam flyover project, which is expected to ease traffic in one of the busiest corridors in the capital, is finally becoming a reality. The demolition of around 160 structures, including houses, will begin from Tuesday. The plan is to complete the demolition in three phases, with as many as 63 structures on the Kallampally-Akkulam stretch set to be demolished in Phase I.
According to official sources, the first phase demolition will be completed within a week.

“The construction of the flyover will start after readying the service roads and shifting utilities. Sreekaryam is one of the busiest corridors with lakhs of vehicles passing by every day. We need to ensure smooth traffic before beginning the construction of the flyover. To avoid delays, we chose not to give the demolition contract to a single party,” an official said.

However, demolishing around eight structures is likely to take time. “Some of the buildings house mobile towers and banks. They have requested more time for shifting,” said the official.The state government has allocated Rs 70 crore for land acquisition alone via the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The acquisition proceedings took longer than expected and the government had to spend more funds for compensation than the earmarked amount.

A section of land owners had moved court demanding better compensation.“The flyover project did not suffer any cost escalation because of the delay. We had to allot a little more fund for land acquisition than our initial plan. Once the demolition is completed, we will invite tenders for the flyover construction,” said an official associated with the project.

Work on the flyover is expected to be completed within 18 months. The Sreekaryam project, planned as part of the light metro proposal, got the green signal from the state government in 2016. Around Rs 272 crore was sanctioned for flyovers at Sreekaryam, Pattom and Ulloor, with the Sreekaryam project getting around Rs 136 crore.