The controversial decision to exclude Kerala from the high priority list of the National Highway development has been revoked. This comes after a meeting between Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in New Delhi on Saturday.
While the state will now be included in the high priority list, the expansion of national highways in the state poses big challenges for Kerala, especially land acquisition. Around 600km of national highways will be made four or six lanes.
“The estimated cost for the 600-kilometer expansion of the national highways is Rs. 44,000 crore. Half of the estimated amount would be required for land acquisition. The land price in Kerala is four times higher than that of the other states. The Union Minister asked if the state would be able to bear a portion of the land acquisition expenses. A decision in this direction would be taken after having discussion in the state," Pinarayi Vijayan said in a post on Facebook, post the meeting with Nitin Gadkari on Saturday.
"The Union Minister said that the Centre is bound to carry out the NH expansion of the state. He said that the state's issue would be considered as a special case. Many suggestions had come out of the discussion to do away with the hurdles," the CM said.
The development of NH corridors in the state into four lanes and six lanes had been delayed for several years due to many reasons.
Nitin Gadkari in his recent visit to the state on June 11 had assured that the state concerns in this would be resolved soon. During the meeting Gadkari said that the Centre would allocate the funds needed for the NH development.
An ordinance removing the state from the priority list was issued by the Centre in May. The National Highway Authority of India had prioritised the development of all national highways into two categories - Priority I (High priority projects which would be taken up immediately) and Priority II.
The development of the NH and State Highway corridors in the state was included in Priority II list, which meant that the work of these projects would begin only in 2021.
The Centre had earlier asked the Kerala government to stop all acquisition of land for the NH-66 project other than parts of Kasaragod, which had figured on Priority I. Following this, work was stopped.
Soon after the ordinance, Pinarayi had written to Gadkari urging him to revoke the move of excluding the state from the priority list.
The state had opposed the move to remove it from the NH Development priority list which the government alleges followed a latter by BJP State President PS Sreedharan Pillai to the Centre.
The Chief Minister had even said that by deprioritising work on the highways the BJP was stalling development project in the state while Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said that Sreedharan Pillai had been sabotaging highway projects in the state.
In a Facebook post, Isaac had carried a picture of a letter sent by Sreedharan Pillai to Nitin Gadkari dated September 14, 2018 requesting the Minister to stay land acquisition proceedings for NH 66 which passes through the Edappally - Moothakunnam route in Ernakulam district.