The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) has allotted Rs 102 crore to acquire land for the project. Revenue officials said the land acquisition process and awarding of compensation to the landowners will be completed in a month.
Once the land acquisition is completed, Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) will be able to initiate procedures for inviting tenders for construction of stations and Metro viaducts. “The land acquisition process can be completed soon. We handed over some funds to the revenue department on Saturday,” KMRL managing director Loknath Behera said.
Officials with the revenue department said they are all set to pay compensation to the landowners. “Once we get the funds, we will start disbursing the compensation. As we have completed all other formalities in this regard, we expect that we will be able to complete the land acquisition and hand over the land to KMRL within a month,” an official with the revenue department said.
At the same time, sources with the revenue department said that the amount which the KRML claims to have deposited into the revenue department’s account has not been credited to the account. “It may be due to technical glitches. If the KMRL deposited the amount, it should be credited to our account the next working day or so,” said a source.
Widening of road along Palarivattom Junction-Chembumukku stretch has been completed. The acquisition of land along Kunnumpuram-Infopark stretch is over. The land acquisition for widening the road along Chembumukku-Kunnumpuram stretch is pending.
KMRL authorities said they are taking steps for appointing consultants for the Metro extension project. Tender for appointing consultants has been floated. “Tender for the construction of Metro viaduct and stations can be started after appointing the consultants. Now, we are preparing tender documents for the civil works,” Behera said.
The government had already allotted the amount required for giving compensation to the owners of land to be taken over for Metro stations. Of the total 11 stations along the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium-Infopark stretch, four stations will come up in government or government institutions’ holdings.
The Phase II extension of Kochi Metro will cover 11.17km. The cost estimated for the project a few years ago was around Rs 2,400 crore. The chances of cost escalation are high. Roads will have to be widened to 22m along the Metro corridor.
It is via Seaport-Airport Road that the Metro’s alignment goes to Infopark. At Chittettukara on Seaport-Airport Road, the alignment will take a sharp turn to the left via the four-lane highway to reach Infopark.
