Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 8 Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Thursday said that Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has assured that urgent steps will be taken to resolve delays and expedite construction work on the National Highway 66 expansion project.
Satheesan, in a Facebook post, said that this was one of several crucial decisions taken in his meeting with Gadkari at Delhi to accelerate the development of Kerala’s road and transport sector.
In the meeting, the union minister assured necessary further approvals for the NH 966 Kozhikode–Palakkad project, for which 80 per cent of the land acquisition is complete, and said that the Union Cabinet approval for the Thiruvananthapuram Outer Ring Road project would be secured soon, the CM claimed.
He said that the other decisions taken in the meeting included expediting the measures to ensure the availability of river sand and quarry materials required for National Highway development, preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Sabarimala ropeway project, fast-tracking the necessary central and state approvals for it, and taking steps to complete it within two years.
“A request was also made to expedite other road projects in Keralam as well, including the Western Ernakulam bypass, the Kothamangalam–Muvattupuzha bypasses, and connectivity to the Kozhikode International Airport,” the CM said.
He said that the meeting resulted in several crucial decisions that will help to advance Keralam’s road and transport infrastructure projects in a time-bound manner through the cooperation of the central and state governments.
(PTI News)
