The four-laning of the NH-47 from Cherthala in Alappuzha district to
Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala has hit a road block with public resistance to land
acquisition.
The project entailing a cost of Rs.4,000 crore, is to be implemented in three
packages - the 84-km stretch from
Cherthala to Ochira, the 86-km stretch from
Ochira to Thiruvananthapuram and the 43-km stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to
the Tamil Nadu border.
Land acquisition problems are being faced in Alappuzha where even a joint
action council has been constituted.
The NH-47, at present, has four lanes only on the Aroor-Cherthala stretch
without proper service roads. The rest of the stretch, with just two lanes,
bears a traffic density usually borne by a four-lane highway, that too on an
extreme scale.