Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today said that Kerala is the only state in the country that has agreed to pay 25% of the cost of land acquisition for National Highway development in the State. The CM also added that the state has already handed over Rs 452 crores for this and the road development projects are going to be a milestone in the development of the basic infrastructure of the state.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the inauguration of the Thiruvananthapuram NH Bypass on NH 66 (Kazhakoottam – Mukola road) by the Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways & MSMEs, Shri Nitin Gadkari today. The Union Minister also laid the foundation stone for seven other National Highway projects in Kerala.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Gadkari said, “The Mumbai – Kanyakumari Economic Corridor with a length of 1,760 km was being developed as a part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana. The corridor will greatly enable the economic prosperity of the region. As a part of the Economic Corridor, 23 projects with a length of 650 km are being developed in Kerala at an investment of Rs 50,000 crores. The corridor traversing the entire length of Kerala from North to South is expected to be the lifeline of Kerala.”
The NH development in Kerala is being done in 17 packages. The CM also requested the Union Minister to approve the remaining nine packages in this financial year itself and acknowledged his full support to the development of the National Highways.
With the completion of 27 km of the Kazhakoottam-Mukola bypass, the first phase of the 43 km Kazhakoottam-Karot road connecting the Tamil Nadu border has become a reality. The inauguration today marks the construction of six stretches of NH 66 at a cost of Rs 11,571 crores: Thalappadi-Chengala ( Rs 1,981 crores, 39 km), Chengala-Neeleswaram ( Rs 1,746 crores, 37 km) in Kasaragod district, Parole-Taliparambu ( Rs 3,042 crores, 40 km) in Kasaragod & Kannur districts and Taliparamba-Muzhappilangad in Kannur district ( Rs 2,715 crore, 30 km), Paloli & Murad bridges in Kozhikode district ( Rs 210 crores, 2 km), Kozhikode bypass connecting Vadakara-Azhiyoor-Vengalam in Kozhikode-Malappuram districts ( Rs 1,853 crores, 28 km) and the construction of the Cheruthoni Bridge ( Rs 24 crores, 0.3 km).