PWD fails to find fund for Tripunithura bypass work.

Motorists seem ill-fated to endure acute traffic snarls in Tripunithura town for many years to come, since work on the 8-km-long road to bypass the town remains in the cold storage. Inching ahead through choked roads is the norm since PWD (NH wing) has been unable to obtain funds for acquiring 35 hectares for the project. “As per current rates, we need at least Rs.950 crore for land acquisition and construction of the bypass. This revised estimate has been handed over to Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). Any further delay will result in cost of land acquisition increasing further,” said a senior PWD official. The department’s attempt to hew out the bypass in a phased manner, by concentrating on 1.5 or 2-km-long stretches at a time has not yielded the desired results since most people are demanding ‘high’ compensation. “With the bypass remaining a far cry, we have begun resurfacing Kundannoor-Hill Palace stretch of NH 49 to smoothen traffic flow. But vendors and encroachers are a major problem since they have encroached into footpaths and shoulder of Tripunithura town’s narrow roads,” PWD sources said. The sole silver lining during the past decade is widening of Irumpanam and Karingachira junctions. Faced with obstacles to land acquisition, PWD (NH wing) mooted constructing a 1.50-km-long elevated highway over Andhakaran canal. But this too is a non-starter. One of the suggestions to surmount delays includes one in which the State pools in its funds and later claims it from the Centre. Another way out is for the State and the Centre to share the project cost like what is being done for the Alappuzha and Kollam bypasses.

THE HINDU