Ker govt signs MoU with Centre for development of national

An MoU was signed on Thursday between Kerala government and Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, under which the state would contribute 25 per cent of land cost towards development of national highways in the state.

This comes after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Union Transport Minster Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday and sought his urgent intervention for the development of National Highways in the state.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by G Kamalavardhana Rao, Principal Secretary with PWD, Kerala and Amith Ghosh, Joint Secretary, MORTH at the National Highway Authority of India headquarters in New Delhi, a release issued by the state government said.

Earlier, Gadkari had lashed out at the NHAI officials for delay in the mattereven as both the Centre and the state had reached an agreement on the same.

The state had approached the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway for expediting the four and six laning of the 600-km national highway corridor from Kasaragod in the north to the southernmost part in Thiruvananthapuram after agreeing to share 25 per cent of the cost of the remaining land to be acquired.

Over 1,100 hectares of land has to be acquired in the state at a cost of over Rs 21,000 crore for the development of highways.

The state had agreed to give over Rs 5,000 crore as its share to the National Highway Authority of India for acquiring the remaining land.