The Hindu Business Line : Expressway makes no road sense, says expert

THE proposed Controlled Access Express Highway (CAEH) between Kasargod and Thiruvananthapuram, if implemented, would not only become a burden to the public in terms of economic, social and environmental consequences but also denude other prime projects, which bring multi-fold benefits to the community, according to experts.

Already several politicians, including MPs, have come out against the project. The proposed 507-km high-speed corridor along the midland region of the State involves an estimated investment of Rs 6,400 crore (as per January 2003 estimates).

The State Government has reportedly decided to float a special purpose vehicle for the implementation of the project comprising four-lane motorways, gas, pipeline and cable tracts, irrigation canal, bullet train rails and service roads.

Steps for acquiring the land have been initiated to complete the first stretch of about 163 km of road.

At the Global Investor Meet (GIM) held here in January 2003, this project was showcased with much fanfare but there were no takers. Now the State Government has decided to implement the same with the help of other funding agencies and institutional investors.

The project will invite large-scale environmental consequences and at the same time it lacks economic viability, said Dr M.P. Sukumaran Nair, former Chairman, Institution of Engineers, India (IEI) Cochin.

The economic and environmental implication of the project needs to be analysed, he said. The proposed highway is 100 metres in width and 7 metres in height and requires about 5,000 hectares of land comprising mainly of dwelling, agricultural and plantation. Existing laws governing conversion of agricultural lands also need amendments to suit the construction of the corridor.

Unlike other parts of the country, massive rehabilitation will be required here to acquire land for the project. The midland-highland border is a fragile zone and on account of the land development serious irreversible changes are likely to occur in the environment.

Major environmental damages following the road development are disfigurement of topography and landscape, damaged soils, disrupted natural rivers and drains, contaminated air and water.

The damage to the living environment arises out of ecological destabilisation, habitat destruction and damage to flora and fauna. Displacement and resettlement caused by road development cause unsurmountable hardships to the affected communities.

To identify and minimise the environmental damages by the highway development and subsequent transport operations, a mandatory EIA study for road construction, maintenance and rehabilitation and transport operation has to be established as a preventive strategy.

In the case of the project, no such serious study and review involving the various stakeholders has been attempted.

Normally such infrastructural projects are financed by governments/ multilateral funding agencies or global development agencies. But, in this case no information on such funding agency tie-ups are known, Mr Nair said.

On other hand, in these kinds of development projects more than the investment many other vital factors such as social cost benefit, hinterland development, strategic lay out etc are important, said Mr Nair, who is also an environmental expert.

The land strip of the State has a maximum width of 70 km to 80 km only. "Already we have a well-developed network of rural and urban roads compared to any other State in the country ensuring a better connectivity between places," said Mr Nair who is a former Managing Director of State-owned Travancore Cochin Chemicals Ltd.

Once the existing national and State highways, rail, waterways and other facilities are properly developed, it is not prudent to think that another super highway is necessary to handle the traffic in the State. The passenger or cargo traffic density projections for the near future will not justify such a project, he argued.

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Expressway makes no road sense, says expert