PWD hands over ₹628-cr road construction to KRFB

The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) has taken over the road project from PWD to develop the Thammanam-Pullepady road stretch as a four-lane road and to extend the same to M.G. Road and the NH Bypass on either side. This is the second road widening project in the district that the agency has taken from the PWD. The first was the one to widen the 13-km-long Thripunithura S.N. Junction-Poothotta road at ₹628 crore, for which the detailed project report (DPR) is ready, and land acquisition will start shortly.

PWD had completed the survey to develop the Thammanam-Pullepady road in the third quarter of last fiscal and now the DPR preparation is in the final stages after which KIIFB will start the construction work. The DPR will focus mainly on bridges that have to be widened and the design of junctions at Thammanam, Karnakodam, and Kathrikadavu areas. The permission of Railways ought to be sought to build a bridge parallel to Pullepady overbridge and the portion over the rails would have to be built under their supervision. The widening of the 3-km Thammanam-Pullepady road, its extension to Padma Junction on M.G. Road and Chakkaraparambu on the NH Bypass, are together estimated to cost around ₹300 crore, including the cost of land acquisition and construction of bridges. The road will be 22 metres wide, having a 14-metre carriageway and a metre-wide median.