Krishnachand K By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the state budget ignoring major infrastructure projects proposed in the district, the future of the proposed Outer Ring Road (ORR) project, a mega project which could be a gamechanger for the development of the capital, appears bleak. Though this project is touted to be one of the major infra projects in the state, both union and state budgets did not allocate a single penny for it. The Rs 4,868-crore project had received in-principle approval from the Centre last year. But the land acquisition, which has to be carried out by the state government, has reached nowhere. On Sunday, Kadakampally Surendran, the only minister from the capital, told reporters that the ORR project would be materialised soon. But he did not mention the fund approved for the project so far. The 50 per cent of the fund for the project has been provided by the Central government while the remaining has to be arranged by the state government. Besides, the land acquisition which is the key part of the project has not even started. The project will be implemented in two phases. It involves the construction of a road which will interconnect NH 66, state highways and MC Road beginning from Parippally in the north to Andoorkonam, Vattapara, Aruvikara, Ooruttambalam, Balaramapuram and Vizhinjam NH bypass. The first phase will be from Vizhinjam to Mangalapuram and the second phase from Mangalapuram to Parippally. The Capital Region Development Programme (CRDP) is the implementing agency of the project. Last year, a senior officer of CRDP told TNIE that the detailed project report (DPR) of the project would be submitted to the state government in December last year. However, sources close to the project said they are yet to submit the DPR as there are minor changes in the alignment. “We did not wind up the project. In fact, there were some changes in the alignment put forth after the social impact study for the project that is still in the nascent stage. So we can’t give a time frame for starting the construction of the project. We will submit the DPR of the project soon,” said a senior officer associated with the project. The CRDP has chalked out plans to acquire land by employing two methods - Land Bond and Land pooling. The state government has approved the concept of Land Bond. The corridor is expected to spur economic growth in the outer fringes of the city and create employment. The project will be implemented in the public-private partnership (PPP) model. It will be a six-lane road which will be 60 metres wide. Bleak prospects Minister Kadakampally Surendran did not mention the fund approved for the project The land acquisition which is the key part of the project has not even started Rs 4,868 cr is the total expense of the project given approval by Central govt last year

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