LA notification validity to expire next month, ORR project hangs fire

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ambitious Vizhinjam-Navaikulam Outer Ring Road (ORR) project hangs fire as the validity of the 3(a) notification issued for land acquisition for the project is set to expire next month. Meanwhile, the alignment revision which aims to minimise extensive hill cutting along the 77 km stretch is under way and is expected to be finalised only by December 2025. As many as 6,500 land owners have handed over their property for ORR project and the move to revise the alignment of the project has come as a heavy blow for them. Following recent incidents along the national highway stretches in Malappuram and Kasaragod, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways directed NHAI to reassess the proposal to verify potential risks in terrains that demand high cutting. In response, NHAI appointed an expert panel specialising in tunnel construction to conduct a field inspection. The committee carried out a site visit on September 4, 2025, and is expected to submit its report by December. Public Works Minister P A Mohamed Riyas the other day announced in New Delhi that 15 tunnels will be constructed to minimise hill cutting along the ORR stretch. However, the looming expiry of the 3(a) notifications has triggered anxiety among landowners who had surrendered their land over three years ago. We have been waiting for compensation for years. Now, if the notification lapses, we fear the entire process will have to restart, said an affected land owner. The project, estimated to cost H8,398.46 crore, is being implemented under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Ramachandran Nair, an affected party, said that being a PPP project, the state government has failed to follow rules. Its mandatory to get consent from 70 per cent of the affected parties before finalising a PPP project. Here this rule was not followed. The 3(a) notification will expire on November 21, he said. The cancellation of 3 (a) notification will further delay the project. This is pure apathy from the part of the government. Once 3(a) notification gets cancelled, the project will have to go through the process all over again. The same thing has happened with Attingal Bypass. Hundreds of people who surrendered their land are at the receiving end and the upcoming elections are also going to have an impact, said Adoor Prakash, MP. The land acquisition cost, initially estimated at H1,800 crore, has now nearly doubled to H3,800 crore as of August 2025. Under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, beneficiaries are entitled to 12% annual interest on delayed compensation from the date of land possession to the date of payment further increasing the financial burden on the state and central governments.