Kundannoor-Angamaly NH Bypass needs 280 hectares from 17 villages

Greenfield corridor mooted to decongest Aroor-Edappally NH 66 Bypass and Edappally-Angamaly NH 544 stretch

Close on the heels of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) approving the alignment for the 47-km partially-access-controlled Kundannoor-Angamaly greenfield NH (Ernakulam Bypass) a month ago, it is estimated that 280 hectares of land is needed for the project.

The greenfield corridor that would begin south of the NH 66 Bypass at Kundannoor and end at Karayamparambu on the northern side of Angamaly on NH 544 has been mooted to decongest the Aroor-Edappally NH 66 Bypass and the Edappally-Angamaly NH 544 stretch, passing through 17 villages.

With NHAI handing over to the Revenue department a draft of the survey numbers of the land that needs to be acquired, a Hyderabad-based consultancy firm has been tasked with vetting this and other pertinent details. The publishing of 3(A) notification and a month-long social-impact assessment (SIA) study are expected to follow suit, in April. Laying of boundary stones will follow, wherein there will be clarity on the exact quantum of land needed for the NH corridor. Publishing of a 3(D) notification and the award of compensation based on documents in possession of landowners will subsequently be done, official sources said.

A compensation package similar to that was awarded for NH 66 development – based on the basic land value (the average value of land transactions done during the past three years) with 12% interest and solatium equivalent to the basic land value, is in the offing. This is in addition to the value of buildings that have to be demolished and that of trees that would have to be felled. Their value will be decided by a private agency, which will subsequently be vetted by NHAI. The process is expected to be completed by year end or early 2024. Once 90 % of the land is acquired, the NH construction work can begin – most probably in early 2024, it is learnt.

The greenfield NH Bypass will in all probability merge with Kochi-Theni NH 85 stretch in Puthen Cruz at a trumpet intersection, from where vehicles from both the stretches are expected to take a common six-lane NH corridor all the way up to Edapally-Aroor NH Bypass, south of Kundannoor. A trumpet intersection (an elevated structure in between a conventional flyover and a clover-leaf flyover) has been mooted here as well.

In the meantime, the NHAI is learnt to have agreed to deploy a consultant to do a feasibility study for widening the congested 16-km Edapally-Aroor NH bypass into a six-lane stretch, or to alternatively build an elevated NH on the corridor, depending on the availability of land. A DPR in this connection is expected to be readied by May.