Thrissur: The long pending proposal to four-lane the National Highway stretch between Edappilly in Ernakulam and Kuttipuram in Malappuram has been revived with the authorities once again starting attempts to acquire land required for the project.
According to NHAI officials, the notification follows the expiry of a similar announcement last year that met with little success.
The notification, which gives a provision for objection within 21 days from the date of its publication, covers as many as 20 villages in Thrissur district.
Earlier, the authorities had issued a notification for acquiring land in these villages, which met with strong protests from the local people.
A similar notification issued for Malappuram district in 2013 also failed to make any impact.
Meanwhile, the notification for land acquisition is yet to published in Ernakulam district as the district administration has not taken any steps to set up a revenue team for this purpose.
The proposal envisages four-laning of a 63-km stretch that passes through the three districts and the cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 1,094 crore as per the estimate prepared in 2007.
Once the land acquisition is completed, the NHAI will invite tenders and the work will be awarded on a build, operate and transfer basis, officials said.
