The State Government is planning to formulate an Infrastructure Act to speed up land acquisition for construction of roads and other development projects.

Addressing a press conference at the infrastructure conference, V.K.Ebrahim Kunju, the Minister for Public Works, pointed out that most of the projects at present are held up midway following opposition from land owners on land acquisition. This must change, he said.

Elaborating on this, T.O. Sooraj, PWD Secretary, said that currently the clearance of numerous departments was required to acquire land. “This is a laborious and time-consuming process. Matters get worse when land owners approach the court.”

Once the proposed Infrastructure Act took shape, a single agency would be vested with the task of clearing the decks for land acquisition, he said, adding the Act would not trample upon people’s civil rights and their right to legal recourse.

On the benefits of transfer of development rights (TDR), the Minister said that this was aimed at encouraging people to part with their lands for road development. The land development rights could even be transferred to others.

On the advantages of pre-fabrication technology, he said this could considerably reduce construction time (of projects like bridges) from about three years to one year. This technology would be adopted to build a bridge in Alappuzha.

Road improvement projects of the State and cities would not only help upgrade roads, but also rehabilitate those affected by this.

To utilise the untapped potential of the State’s waterways, he said lorry operators must be encouraged to opt for Ro-Ro (roll in, roll out) vessels, which now transported container trailers from Vallarpadam to Willingdon Island through the Ernakulam channel.

The Minister also called for promoting an integrated and inter-modal transportation system wherever possible.

> sajeevkumar.v@thehind.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW