Kochi District administration has intensified measures for acquiring land for Metro extension to Kakkanad as well as to Tripunithura. In a major step towards this, revenue department issued 11 (1) notification to acquire land for widening the road along the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium-Kakkanad stretch on June 17.
The district administration has adopted fast-track method for completing the land acquisition in a time-bound manner. Review meetings of a committee comprising revenue department officials and Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) will be held every week.
“As per the instructions by the state government, we have expedited the process for acquiring land for Metro extension. Giving impetus to the entire process, we have published 11 (1) notification prior to acquiring land for widening the road along the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium-Kakkanad stretch. We will soon be preparing a time schedule for completing the land acquisition process,” district collector S Suhas said.
To facilitate the construction of the Metro’s viaduct, the road along Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium- Kakkanad stretch will have to be widened. More than seven acres will have to be acquired for widening the road along the stretch. Authorities have conducted social impact assessment prior to land acquisition for widening Kakkanad-Chittethukara stretch of Seaport-Airport Road.
Public hearing as part of the acquisition process will be held on July 8. Authorities have started widening of the road in the areas where land is available. After reaching Kakkanad, Metro’s alignment will be via Seaport-Airport Road and it will turn to left at Chittethukara via four-lane highway to reach Infopark.
There will be 11 stations along the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium-Infopark stretch. Metro’s Kakkanad extension will cover 11.17 km and the cost estimated a few years ago was around Rs 2,400 crore. Roads will have to be widened to 22m along the Metro corridor. At least 46 shops on the Palarivattom-Kakkanad stretch will have to be pulled down, while 275 shops will have to be partially demolished.
Although, the Union government is yet to give the final approval for the Kakkanad extension project. But the state government is learnt to have asked the officials to expedite the land acquisition and other works related to the metro rail extension. Measures for speeding up the land acquisition for the Metro station at Vadakkekotta have also been started.
The rehabilitation and resettlement package for the evictees has been prepared. A meeting will be held today (Monday, 29th June 2020) for giving final shape to the package. Around 2.40 acres will have to be acquired for Vadakkekota station. For widening the road from SN Junction to Tripunithura, around 185 cents will have to be acquired. Efforts to acquire additional land required for improving the facilities at Edapally and Ernakulam South stations have also gained momentum.
Water Metro Project Also Gains Impetus
The revenue department has also expedited the land acquisition process for Water Metro Project. As part of the Water Metro project, a total of 38 terminals have been proposed in different islands and mainland. Government has given administrative sanction for acquiring land for 22 stations. For setting up 22 terminals, more than five acres will have to be acquired. Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) authorities have proposed 15 routes as part of Water Metro project.
Boats will operate services on these routes at an interval of 10 to 20 minutes. There will be three types of terminals viz. major, intermediate and minor. The Water Metro terminals have been designed as a space for public gathering. There will be paid and non-paid area in each terminal. While ticket vending machine, station control, etc. will be in unpaid area, waiting area, toilets, etc. will be in paid area. So, adequate land will be required for setting up all the amenities.
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