The construction of the Eravipuram railway overbridge (RoB) is nearing its final stage and the Railways have given an assurance to complete their works by October, M. Naushad, MLA, has said. The RoB has 13 spans, among which the Railways have to construct three. The Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) has completed the construction and girder installation of all 10 spans.
“Though Railways have completed the construction of spans, the installation of girders and deck slabs has been delayed due to some technical reasons,” said the MLA, who added that the Railways were expected to complete the work by December 2023 and the RBDCK can start the subsequent works only after placing the girders and deck slabs on the railway spans.
Installation of deck slabs, construction of retaining walls, drainage and allied roads are the remaining works to be completed by the RBDCK. The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) had sanctioned ₹37.14 crore for the RoB, which includes ₹26.33 crore for construction and ₹10.81 crore for land acquisition. The project, announced by the Left Democratic Front government in the 2016-2017 Budget had received administrative sanction in June 2020 while construction work began in January 2021. The RoB has a length of 412 m and a width of 10.05 m and it is being constructed as a steel composite structure. This is the first of its kind construction in the State, for which one acre and thirty cents of land was acquired from 86 owners. Construction work on railway land is done by the Railways directly while other works are done by the State government agency RBDCK.
The State government had sanctioned ₹222.43 crore from KIIFB for the construction of six RoBs in the Eravipuram Assembly constituency. Apart from Eravipuram (₹37.14 crore), RoBs will be constructed at Mayyanad (₹25.94 crore), College Junction (₹44.66 crore), Kallumthazham (Kutichira) (₹30.93 crore), Koottikada (₹52.24 crore) and Polayathodu (₹31.52 crore). “The process of land acquisition for construction of RoBs at Mayyanad, Koottikada, SN College Junction, Kallumthazham (Kutichira) and Polayathodu is in various stages,” said the MLA.
