'Entrust flyover construction with NHAI'.

A fresh writ petition was filed in the Kerala High Court recently, seeking a directive to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to construct the six-lane flyover at Vyttila, ignoring the offer of the State government in this regard.

In response to another pending writ petition, the State government had submitted that it was taking steps to construct the proposed flyover, and the construction was expected to be completed by mid-2019.

In his petition, Francis Manjooran of Kochi pointed out that the offer of the government was illegal. The State government has no authority to prevent the NHAI from maintaining or developing national highways.

The government had decided to construct the flyover on the national highway as it was against the policy of collecting tolls from bridges.The proposed project included in the State Budget is wholly dependent on the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The petitioner alleged that KIIFB was said to be in a debt trap and was unable to fulfil its commitments.

THE HINDU