KOCHI: The plan to realign the Pachalam Railway Overbridge (RoB) project will help in its speedy implementation, experts feel.The proposal to re-aligning the bridge to a width of 10.5 metres instead of the actually proposed 22 metres was mooted at the council meet held the other day.However, the item included in the agenda was later referred to the Town Planning Committee to take a final decision in this connection.“The decision to re-align the RoB was taken at an evaluation meeting held in Kochi last week.But, when it was presented at the Council, some councillors objected to it and then it was referred to the Town Planning Committee,” said a top Corporation official.He said the decision to defer from the actual width was taken considering several factors.“If we have to go for the actual width of 30 metres, i.e.22 metres for the bridge and two side roads of four metre each, we will have to acquire land up to a width of 100 feets.The total cost of construction of the bridge is estimated at `36 crore.Since the project is included in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), half the project cost will be funded by the Centre.But, the land acquisition for the bridge and roads at 30-metre width is estimated at `138 crore,” said the official.He said the land acquisition cost might escalate as it was only a rough estimate.“But if we reduce the width to 18.5 metres, that is 10.5 for the bridge and two side roads of four metres each, then the land acquisition cost can be reduced by at least 40 per cent.Besides, various resident’s associations and the Chathiyathu Church authorities have already raised their protests against the acquisition of land as per the actual alignment.So the new alignment will also help reduce the local protest too,” the official added.Meanwhile opposition councillor and former Works Standing Committee chairman M Anilkumar said since the funds for the ROB was sanctioned from the Centre as per the original alignment, it is not a wise decision to re-design it.However, the official said the JNNURM rules allow alterations in any one of the two components, gradient or width.“We can make changes in either the gradient of the ROB or the width if it makes the project more feasible,” he added.Pointing out that the new ROB at Edappally is only 10 metres wide and the width of Venduruthy Bridge is 10.5 metres, the official said the Pachalam ROB project will have a speedy take-off if the width is reduced.
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