Land acquisition notice issued for bypass project

Kochi: The long-pending Angamaly-Kundanoor bypass project is finally inching closer to reality, as the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) issued a 3A notification for land acquisition for the proposed project.Last month the state govt had issued an order exempting royalty and the state govt's share in GST for aggregates required for the construction of the bypass, removing a hurdle for the project.The road project was delayed indefinitely due to the uncertainty over the govt decision on royalty and GST. The Centre, which agreed to bear the entire cost of construction and land acquisition for the project, had demanded the state govt to waive royalty and GST. The state govt will have to forgo Rs 424 crore due to the exemption of GST (state share) and royalty on the construction materials for the new road. As per the estimate submitted by the national highways authority of India (NHAI), the GST share of the state is Rs 254.4 crore and royalty on materials is Rs 169.6 crore.The alignment of the 44.7km long greenfield bypass road was approved by the NHAI in Jan 2023. The road will begin from Karayamparambu on the northern side of Angamaly town and will end at Kundanoor Junction on NH 66, which is going to be developed into a six-lane highway.A total of 280 hectares of land from 17 villages in the district would be acquired for the project. Anyone who is interested in the said land may express their objection to the use of such land for the aforesaid purpose under sub-section (1) of section 3C of the said Act, within 21 days from the date of publication of notification in the official gazette, says the notification issued on Aug 29.
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