The land acquisition for the much-awaited port connectivity highway corridor (NH 966-B), that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) sanctioned in November 2023 in order to link Nettoor on Vyttila-Aroor NH bypass with CIFT Junction in Willingdon Island, is set to commence from December.
The proposed four-lane highway having 45-m width will bypass Kundannoor Junction, the narrow, ill-maintained 2-km-long Kundannoor-Thevara Bridge, Alexander Parambithara Bridge and the bottlenecked Mattancherry BOT Bridge Junction. The land acquisition process for the port connectivity highway corridor, that was then estimated to be 6-km-long, had hit a hurdle earlier this year, since the NHAI and the Cochin Port Authority (CPA) were not on the same page regarding its alignment.
The project is now set to take off since the extent and the number of curves on the corridor have been reduced. The revised alignment that has been mulled is expected to be finalised in two months along with the detailed project report (DPR). It would in turn lessen the distance of the highway and also the extent of land acquisition, it is learnt.
Apart from decongesting the Nettoor-Kundannoor Junction-CIFT Junction corridor, the proposed highway would considerably augment connectivity to the port from Nettoor on the NH 66 Bypass, from where the 44-km-long, six-lane Kochi Bypass is set to take off from and end at Karayamparambu that is located beyond Angamaly on NH 544. The two highway corridors in the offing are expected to cater to container lorries from Vizhinjam and other ports.
The NHAI had envisaged a trumpet flyover at Nettoor to cater to traffic that would converge there from NH 66 Bypass and the two proposed highways. The CIFT Junction too would be developed, as part of the NH 966-B port-connectivity highway, said informed sources.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had in November 2023 approved the initial alignment for the port connectivity NH corridor, while the land acquisition process was slated to begin from December. The CPA had constraints about the alignment since it reportedly passed through land bordering the backwaters where a hospitality project was in the offing.