more-in The Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation Ltd. (KRTL), the special purpose vehicle set up to execute the proposed Light Metro in the cities of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, has been tasked with the work of the flyovers at Sreekaryam, Uloor and Pattom in the capital. The KRTL has also been asked by the government to go for open tendering instead of the earlier turnkey mode decided for executing the work of the flyovers. The flyovers in the three busy junctions is to enable the movement of proposed MRTS along with vehicular traffic of the NH 66. Government Order The Government Order is based on the decision of the meeting of the Board of Directors of KRTL and comes in the wake of the exit of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) from the Light Metro proposed in 35.12 kms in the two cities in March this year. The reluctance of the government to sign the turnkey consultancy agreement for the preparatory works — flyovers — of the transit system even 14 months after it was awarded to the DMRC led to the exit of the DMRC. The three flyovers were designed by the DMRC under Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan and the government has asked the KRTL to stick to the alignment, approved design and drawings, official sources told The Hindu. Armed with the Government Order issued by the Public Works Department, the administrative department for the MRTS, the KRTL is gearing up for taking up the work of the flyover at Sreekaryam first. The seven-member expert committee tasked with the evaluation of the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study carried out by Centre fro Advanced Research in Health and Human Behaviour (CARB) has recommended acquiring 1.343 hectares of land needed for the flyover at Sreekaryam. Now, the government has acted on the report of the district administration to pave the way for acquiring the land and for the KRTL to float tenders for the 480-m flyover. Boundary stones have been laid after demarcating the land to be acquired for the three flyovers along the 21.8-km Light Metro corridor from Technocity, near Pallipuram, to Karamana. SIA study The SIA study for the flyover at Uloor has been entrusted by the district administration to the city-based Institution for Rural Development (IRD). The study will commence after fixing the alignment. In the case of flyover at Pattom, the 6(1) notification under the Land Acquisition Act will be issued soon. This will be followed by the SIA study by another agency. Already, the government has given approval to the Revenue Department for negotiated purchase of the land. The KIIFB has given nod for the flyover at Sreekaryam that will cost ?135.37 crore, Ulloor (?52.68 crore) and ?140 crore for Pattom flyover that has been extended to Plamoodu. Already, 10.11 hectares on the side of the NH 66 near the CRPF camp Pallipuram has been provided to the KRTL free of cost for setting up the Light Metro depot.

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