3A notification for eight-lane Kochi Bypass to be reissued in August

A month after the Centre accorded sanction for the 50-km-long, eight-lane Kochi Bypass project linking Angamaly and Aroor, the 3A notification to commence the land acquisition process is set to be reissued in August.

The 3A notification issued in 2024 for the 44-km-long, six-lane NH linking Angamaly and Netoor had expired for want of follow-up action.

“The 3A notification will, in all probability, be reissued in August. The stakeholders concerned are currently awaiting clarity on the width of the proposed 50-km corridor linking Aroor on NH 66 and Angamaly on NH 544,” said senior officials associated with the project.

The width of the six-lane corridor initially mooted had been fixed at 45 metres. This was later revised to 70 metres following the Centre’s decision to build an eight-lane NH.

“With the Kochi Bypass set to extend beyond Netoor and terminate near Aroor, land will have to be acquired from two more villages, Kumbalam and Aroor. This will increase the number of villages through which the greenfield corridor passes from 18 to 20. The alignment will more or less remain the same, except for the additional width required to build two more lanes and the nearly 6-km extension southwards to Aroor,” the officials said.

The impending 3A notification will be followed by the laying of boundary stones, public hearings on the grievances of landowners, and a field survey, all of which are expected to be completed by the end of the year, it is learnt.

Hoping that the proposed Kochi Bypass would considerably decongest the NH 66 Bypass and the Edappally-Angamaly NH 544 stretch, Hibi Eden, MP, said that the extended alignment would, in all probability, end on the northern side of the Aroor bridge [at Madavana Junction]. “A new bridge might be needed to seamlessly merge the proposed NH with the NH Bypass and with the 13-km Aroor-Thuravoor elevated highway. On his part, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said at a recent MPs’ conference that a dedicated survey team would be deployed to speed up land acquisition for the proposed corridor,” he added.

Unconfirmed reports said that necessary land would be acquired to further widen the proposed eight-lane corridor to one having 10 lanes.