The land to be acquired at Ayyankuzhi near Ambalamugal as part of the rehabilitation of 40-odd families hit by industrial pollution will be directly purchased by the government from the owners utilising funds available under the government’s Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP) aided by the World Bank.
A meeting convened by Ernakulam District Collector G. Priyanka on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) had decided to forward the land acquisition proposal to the KSWMP as part of plans to set up a solid waste treatment facility on the 9.4-acre strip sandwiched between two major public sector units—Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited-Kochi Refinery and Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited.
Senior officials of the Department of Local Self Government said that funds had been earmarked under the KSWMP for direct purchase of land from the owners. The process will be completed after receiving nod from the government on the land price. The direct purchase process has been mooted to avoid time and cost overruns in project completion and to reduce litigation over compensation by duly conducting negotiations, they said.
The officials added that it was up to the government to decide on the solid waste treatment project to be set up at the site. Though there was an initial proposal to set up a sanitary land filling for inert waste, it was put on hold later. A proposal to set up a facility for processing construction and demolition waste has been taken up for discussion, they said.
The previous Left Democratic Front government had proposed a construction and demolition waste processing plant with a capacity to process 100 to 150 tonnes in Ernakulam under the public-private partnership mode. It was part of the regional facilities proposed under the KSWMP aided by the World Bank.
Published – June 04, 2026 01:00 am IST
