City's long-pending demand for flyover approved.

With the State government giving approval for the construction of two flyovers at Ramanattukara and Thondayad, the choked city roads might get eased.

The Public Works Department has issued orders to construct two flyovers at the cost of Rs. 90 crore each under the District Flagship Infrastructure Project (DFIP), a major initiative under the State government. Its special purpose vehicle, Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), will implement the projects.

Constructing flyovers on the Kozhikode bypass has been a long pending demand of city planners. Measures to tackle traffic congestion have been met with little response in spite of the expansion of the city towards the north-eastern side.

The Thondayad junction is a major motorway of the Kozhikode bypass connecting Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. From Thondayad, the bypass stretches to Ramanattukara in the south and Malaparamba in the north. One of the roads leads to Pottammal and another to the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital.

The two projects are part of the 21 infrastructure projects announced under the DFIP meant to give a stimulus to the infrastructural projects in the districts. Finance Minister K.M. Mani while presenting the budget had set aside an amount of Rs. 1,400 crore for 14 projects.

The plan of the government is to use agencies like the KRFB, KSIDC and KINFRA to mobilise resources from the market. Through this process, the government hoped to channelise investment in infrastructure to the tune of Rs.25,000 crore in the next three years.

Flyovers have been suggested at Thondayad, Malaparamba, and Eranhipalam junctions, where accidents are frequent. Earlier, former finance minister T.M. Thomas Isaac when presenting his budget had mooted flyovers at Eranhipalam and Thondayad. But then the proposals remained on paper.

Currently, the city has just a single flyover, constructed under the KSUDP, a programme financed by the Asian Development Bank. The opening of the flyover on the Mavoor Road has now solved the traffic problem in front of Baby Memorial Hospital.

THE HINDU