Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked the officials to complete the Kovalam-Kasaragod waterway by March 2020.
"All the departments should work together for this and the schedule has to be reworked so as to finish the work by December 2019," he said during a high-level meeting to review the progress of the waterway project.. The deadline for the work has been advanced so that even unforeseen delays won't force the project to overshoot the March 2020 target.
From Mahi to Valapattanam, where there is no waterway at present, land acquisition has to be completed by May to build canals. From Kovalam to Veli, dredging in the Parvathy Puthanar will start in April to clean the stretch of its mud, weeds and rubbish, and increase its depth.
District collectors have been assigned the task of finding, taking on rent and handing over suitable space to deposit the mud removed from the waterway. This mud will be used for government purposes or auctioned to private parties.
As part of the project, those living on government land will be moved out, and given houses under the government's Life Mission project. The rehabilitation of the displaced people will have to be completed by 2022. The height of the bridges to be built across rivers has to be decided by a team led by the chief secretary and consisting of secretaries of departments concerned and technical experts.
Once the project is inaugurated, eco-friendly boats must be used. The project has to be implemented taking into consideration future development and tourism potential, the CM said.
From Kovalam to Bekal, the 610-km project will cover 10 districts and cost Rs 2,300 crore for its first phase.
The Kochi and Kannur airport will be linked to the waterway. There are proposals to set up tourism villages along the waterway route. Once freight movement is possible through the waterway, traffic bottlenecks on roads could be controlled to some extent. Besides, inflammable materials including petroleum could be safely rerouted through the waterway.
Marathon meeting
The chief minister is firm on finishing the dream project on time. The meeting held to review the project went on for four hours on Monday. He actively took part in the meeting and intervened in the smallest of issues and took immediate decisions. It was one of the longest meetings since he took charge as the CM, said senior officials. He even deferred other meetings to finish the waterway review. The meeting was attended by water resources minister Mathew T Thomas, chief secretary Paul Antony, department heads, representatives of Kerala Waterways and Infrastructures Ltd (KWIL) and national waterway officials. KWIL MD VJ Kurian submitted the progress report.
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