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.