The Hindu Business Line : Hill highway to boost Kerala's rural economy

WITH the development of the proposed hill highway, it is expected that the State's distances will come to matter relatively less for farmers as they would be able to move rubber, spices and other hill produce to the industrial hub of Kochi.

The 960-km highway that will connect the foothills of Thiruvananthapuram in the south with the countryside of Kasaragod in the north is designed to provide an alternative corridor traversing in the economically backward rural outback in the State.

With an alignment that touches some of the most scenic spots in the verdant landscape, the new highway is expected to add considerably to the State's tourism potential.

The project is being implemented in two phases with the 418.5-km stretch extending from Kasaragod to Palakkad being taken up in the first phase. The second phase will see work along a distance of 498 km being taken up between Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram.

The first phase was finalised on the basis of the feasibility study carried out by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac), an autonomous R&D institution under the State Government.

The Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, carried out an environmental impact assessment since the first phase involved negotiating the protected virgin forestlands straddling the Western Ghats.

The State Government has already approved the final route alignment prepared by Natpac, which factored in suggestions made by the legislators from the districts serviced by the highway. It has also declared the hill highway as a State Highway.

According to Dr T. Elangovan, Director, and Mr U.J. Philippose, Deputy Chief Project Coordinator, Natpac, the hill highway would not exactly make for a `high-speed' North-South corridor. On the other hand, it will seek to ensure accessibility and bolstering of the linkages by building on and networking of existing roads to the extent possible.

Significantly, the hill highway would help farmers to move their produce faster to the market and get better and reasonable prices.

Enormous time will also be saved as the new highway offers better connectivity of the feeder roads. For instance, the distance from Meppadi, a hill station housing several tea estates in Wayanad, to Kochi will be reduced by no less than 90 km.

In the first phase of implementation, the project will directly benefit the hill stations of Boys Town, Kalpetta, Meppadi, Chooralmala, Kakkadampoyil and Mukkali.

Among tourist spots that would be connected are Prantharkavu Mala; the temple town of Kottiyoor; Palchuram; the Edakkal Caves; the Chempara Peak; water falls at Kanthappara, Soojippara, Thusharagiri and Peedikappara; Vaithiri resorts and the Pookode Lake.

The hill highway will start from Nandarapadavu in Kasaragod and stretch for a distance of 123.8 km to reach Cherupuzha borders Kannur district. From here, it will run for another 115.5 km to reach Boys Town in Wayanad. A loop road from here to Veliyamthodu will connect the hilly regions of Kozhikode district.

The next 77.5-km stretch through Wayanad district will connect to Arunappuzha in Malappuram before entering Ponpara in Palakkad district, 64.7 km downstream. From there, the alignment will stretch up to Mannarkad on the inter-district border.

The two-lane highway project will need hardly any land acquisition since roads exist to connect the entire hinterland, except for one missing link.

These roads merely need to be inter-connected and geometric improvement of gradients, curves and junctions taken up. The estimated cost of developing a stretch of one km is Rs 40 lakh; this can go up to Rs 1 crore in valleys and undulating terrain.

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