Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala government has given financial approval for the construction of the Nilambur bypass road in Malappuram district at an estimated cost of Rs 227.18 crore, State Finance Minister K N Balagopal said on Wednesday.

The bypass will be constructed in two phases—from Jyothippadi to Mukatta, and from Mukatta to Veliyamthode—the minister said in an official release.

A total of 10.66 hectares of land in Nilambur taluk will be acquired for the project.

The work on the project, which was first notified in 1998, had been pending for a long time. The environmental impact assessment report for land acquisition was released in August 2023.

The Nilambur bypass will help ease congestion in Nilambur town and reduce traffic blocks on State Highway 28, one of Kerala's key state highways, the minister said.

This road is heavily used by tourists travelling to Tamil Nadu and other destinations. The proposed bypass will eliminate the long queues of tourist and commercial vehicles that get stuck in Nilambur between Ooty and Gudalur, Balagopal added.

Notably, the minister's announcement comes ahead of the expected by-election in the Nilambur assembly constituency, likely to be announced by the Election Commission soon.

The by-election has been necessitated by the resignation of P V Anvar, who had won the seat with the support of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), but later switched sides following differences with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.