The Corporation authorities will request the district administration
to speed up the land acquisition procedures for widening the
Thammanam-Pulleppady stretch, the road which will play a crucial role in
diverting traffic once the construction of the Kochi Metro Rail will
begin.

As per the Rs 22-crore road widening project, approved
under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)
scheme, the 3.4-km-long Thammanam-Pulleppady Road will be widened to 22
metres. The expected cost of land acquisition for road widening is Rs
170 crore.

“The government had allotted Rs 25 crore for the land
acquisition and we will urge the Revenue Department to begin the land
acquisition procedures until the approach road of Pulleppady bridge,”
said Mayor Tony Chammany.

Meanwhile, Ernakulam District Collector P
I Sheik Pareeth told ‘City Express’ that the  Revenue Department had
already requested for the state government nod for issuing a 4(1) 
notification for the land acquisition.

“Once the approval is
gained, we can initiate the land acquisition procedures. We hope that
the sanction will be given in one month’s time,” Pareeth said.

TDR Scheme

Earlier,
though the authorities have decided to implement the Transfer of
Development Rights (TDR) scheme to speed up the land acquisition of
Thammanam-Pulleppady Road, the final decision in this regard is yet to
be taken. The scheme was successful for various infrastructure projects
carried out in Metros like Mumbai.

“The TDR is the tool developed
for acquisition of land for roads and other public infrastructure
projects through which the government is able to compensate the owners
for the property acquired without actually having to pay the market
price for the acquired land. On completion of the transaction, the land
becomes government  property to be utilised for the purpose for which it
is acquired,” said a senior town planner.

He said that as per the
transferable development rights (TDR) policy, a particular 
jurisdiction can be divided into originating  area and a receiving area.
The assumption is on the basis that the originating area is where
development is discouraged while the receiving area is where development
is encouraged. Under a TDR policy, owners would be compensated for the
down zoning.

“Here the receiving points identified were mainly on
MG Road and such areas which are highly populated. The promoters of TDR
feel the receiving points should be provided within the city to attract
more land owners to surrender the land. But it is not feasible. The
Council had prepared a list of receiving points outside the city, mainly
on suburbs. But that was not accepted by many,” he said.