Kochi: Insisting that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) should take up construction of key Vytilla and Kundanoor flyovers, the state government on Saturday decided to approach the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to convince the national agency to take up the work. The NHAI headquarters had written a letter to the state Public Works Department minister last week stating that it was not interested in taking up construction of the twin flyovers.
“The NHAI should take up the works since the proposed flyovers are in the stretch maintained by them. We’ve decided to approach the Union Road Transport Ministry to convince them on the matter. The chief secretary has been deputed with the task. Hence the matter will not be taken to the cabinet as decided earlier,” state PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran told DC. The minister sought to put the blame for NHAI’s latest stance on the decision taken by the previous UDF government to construct the flyovers all by itself.
“In the letter, the NHAI had pointed out that the previous PWD minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju had made a commitment to construct the flyovers and even obtained the NOC from the authority. But this ministry has a a clear stance on the matter that the NHAI should take up the construction. Especially our financial constraints don’t allow us to spend Rs 214 crore, estimated cost of construction of the twin flyovers,” he said. Foundation stone for the Vytilla and Kundanoor flyovers were laid during the period of the previous UDF government. However, the state Finance Department objected to the PWD’s proposal to construct the flyovers citing concerns over investing state funds in the properties owned by the NHAI.
