Chennai: The IT corridor, dotted with software companies, educational institutions and mushrooming swanky multi storeyed residential apartments, triggering more development by the day, has brought a new problem.Increasing traffic congestion is becoming a cause for concern to the government.In an effort to reduce the traffic congestion, the state government has proposed several road infrastructure projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore, including a 45 km elevated expressway on the busy IT corridor to the popular tourist destination of Mahabalipuram. “The project will be taken up in two phases and the work will be completed from Taramani up to Siruseri in the first phase and from Siruseri to Mamallapuram in the second phase,” chief minister J. Jayalalithaa said. Making a suo moto statement in the Assembly on Monday, she said Rs 5 crore would be allocated to prepare a detailed plan to implement the project at the earliest.Ms Jayalalithaa said the 22-km road up to Thiruninravur from Padi was handed over to National Highways Authority of India in 2005 based on the request of NHAI. But the authority did not upgrade the road since there was no provision for toll collection and as a result the road lacked maintenance, she said.
Six-laning work of NH45 begins
July 15, 2014
Preparatory work has commenced for the six-laning of a 93-km stretch on the Chennai-Tiruchi highway (NH45) from Tambaram to Tindivanam.
According to sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the consultant has begun preparing the land plan schedule that identifies government and private lands. The consultant is also drawing up the estimate for shifting of utilities along the road that is used by over 90,000 vehicles a day.
The process including enumeration of trees along the road will take two years. “Since the concessionaire has a contract to build, operate and transfer the road for a period of 17.5 years, which is till November 2019, the NHAI will take a call as to when the work can be taken up,” explained an official. Work to widen the road into a four-lane facility began in May 2002 and was completed in October 2004 when tolling began.
A decision will also be taken regarding widening of the urban stretches upto Tambaram. “We have to take into consideration various factors including the Chennai Outer Ring Road that takes off from Vandalur, the railway track running on one side of the road and the densely populated urban stretch. Land acquisition will be a major issue in these areas,” he said.
R. Samban, who recently travelled by the NH45 to Tiruchi, said that the lighting could be improved on some stretches. “Some of the curves are quite sharp. During the widening, care must be taken to improve visibility at these points. The NHAI must also ensure that trees along the road are not cut but transplanted,” he said.
Sources:The Hindu
NHAI bats for elevated corridor in Chennai
November 20, 2013
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
The proposed 19-km ‘Elevated Corridor Project’ connecting Chennai Port and Maduravoyal envisages direct access to the port from the outskirts of the city round the clock without traffic regulations. This will help in the speedy movement of cargo in and out of Chennai Port, the National Highways Authority of India has said in an affidavit in the Madras High Court.
The time required to reach Chennai Port from Maduravoyal through the corridor would be approximately 30 minutes. The project would help in augmenting the revenue of both the Central and State Governments by way of taxes besides improvement of trade, industry and employment.
The NHAI affidavit was in reply to a counter filed by the Chief Engineer of the State Public Works Department, Chennai. The NHAI had filed a writ petition seeking to quash the records of the Chief Engineer, PWD, Water Resource Organisation, of January 28 this year.
By that communication, the PWD had sought revised CRZ clearance for the elevated corridor project. The NHAI said it was aggrieved as the Tamil Nadu Government was putting stumbling blocks in implementing the corridor. The Chief Engineer had earlier filed the counter to the petition.
Source-http://www.thehindu.com/
Now, ‘small bus’ service in Chennai
November 1, 2013
Reuters
Chennai: Tamil Nadu has launched ‘small bus’ service to connect suburbs with railway stations and bus stands in the city. Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa flagged off the service with a fleet of 50 small buses.
Passengers will find the 27-seater small bus or mini bus an alternative to share autos and vans. To begin with the services will cover places such as Chromepet, Guindy, Vadapalani and Moolakadai. Jayalalithaa also launched 610 new buses to be operated across the State. The Chief Minister said the State Government has earmarked Rs 1,026 crore to buy 6,000 new buses and half of them have been purchased.
To meet the increasing diesel cost, the State Government will allot Rs 500 crore this financial year to the Transport Department as against Rs 200 crore last year, she said. The Department is finding new ways to generate revenue. For instance, it earned Rs 28.13 crore from advertisements displayed in buses.
The parcel service in buses earned Rs 44.21 lakh and highway eateries earned Rs 4.67 crore. At the function, she gave pension benefits to 25 retired transport employees and sanctioned Rs 257 crore of pension benefits to other retired department employees.
The State Government plans to set up a second water plant at Gummidipoondi for the Amma Mineral water scheme. Under the scheme, which was launched last September, one litre water bottle is sold at Rs 10 to passengers travelling in long distances buses.
Source-http://news.in.msn.com
Contract for phase-II of Outer Ring Road soon
July 29, 2013
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
(The Hindu When completed, the 61.65-km-long Outer Ring Road will form a semicircle around the city and helpdecongest Chennai’s roads.)
(Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam)
With work on phase-I of Chennai Outer Ring Road, from Vandalur to Nemilichery, nearing completion, the State government recently gave its nod for a consortium of Ashoka Buildcon and GVR Infra Projects to build phase-II, from Nemilichery to Minjur.
On completion, the 61.65-km-long road will form a semicircle around the city and help decongest Chennai’s roads. It will act as a major link and connect four national highways — NH 4, NH 5, NH 45 and NH 205.
According to sources in the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), the managing associate for the project, the work order has been issued and the contract is to be signed with the consortium to execute the 32-km stretch.
The cost of the project, being executed under a design, finance, build, operate and transfer basis, would be Rs. 985.44 crore, of which Rs. 197 crore will be provided by the State government as project support fund.
Of the 20 years during which the company would operate the road, 2.5 years is for construction. The consortium will get six months to achieve financial closure after which it will commence work.
The various features of the road include a flyover at Red Hills–Tiruvallur Road, an interchange on the Kolkata Road at Padianallur and a bridge across the Kosasthalaiyar river near Minjur.
The end point at Minjur is on the Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetty Road, which is 10 km away from Ennore Port to which the road will provide connectivity.
According to an official, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is carrying out land acquisition for the project and of the 278.25 hectares of private land, 90 per cent has been acquired. Government land too is required for the project. The road would pass through the Sidco Industrial Estate near Vellanur.
Meanwhile, lighting on 25 km of phase-I has been completed and residents of villages such as Mannivakkam, Varadharajapuram, Nazarathpet, Kolapancheri, Amudurmedu and Thandarai have begun using the road.
“The lights are kept on to avoid accidents at night. We are unable to prevent residents from using the road. Bus shelters have been installed on one side for the entire stretch,” said a TNRDC official. The work, except on the three interchanges, is expected to be completed by October end.
It may be recalled that farmers of Karunakaracheri, Ramapuram, Annambedu and Thandarai have been protesting against the proposal to take over 100 acres of agricultural land for setting up a truck terminal abutting ORR phase-I.
Source-http://www.thehindu.com
45-km elevated road on IT corridor to Mahabs
April 9, 2013
45-km elevated road on IT corridor to Mahabs
L&T, IRB among 5 to bag Rs 11k cr road projects
February 23, 2008
NEW DELHI: L &T-ECC, Emirates Trading Agency-KMC Construction, IRB Infrastructure Developers-Deutsche Bank, IJM Corporation-IDFC Ltd and Isolux Corsan Concessions-Soma Enterprise have bagged five national highway projects worth Rs 10,912 crore.
The projects, part of the fifth phase of National Highway Development Project (NHDP), are the first one to be under the new model concession agreement.
Secretary (road transport and highways) Brahm Dutt said this at a media briefing on Friday.
Under NHDP V, a total of 6,500 km of existing four-laned national highway have to be widened to six lane through build operate and transfer basis.
Two projects aggregating to 148 km had earlier been awarded based on the old concession agreement.
In the earlier awarded two projects, grants used to be the bidding criteria and NHAI got an upfront negative grant of Rs 975 crore.
Under the new MCA, the concept of grant has been changed to revenue share model.
On the Delhi-Jaipur section of national highway eight, the wining consortium of Emirates Trading Agency and KMC Construction has quoted 48.06% as the revenue share for NHAI.
IRB Infrastructure in tie-up with Deutsche Bank quoted 38% for Surat-Dahisar section on national highway 8. For Chennai-Tada on NH 5 and Panipat-Jalandhar on NH 1, L&T-ECC have quoted 17.07% and Isolux Corsan, have quoted 20.14% as revenue share that the government will get out of tolling revenue.
“All the revenue share will start right from the appointed date within 180 days of signing of the agreement.
In only one case, where the traffic is low, the share of revenue will start at 2% after nearly four and half years,” said Dutt. Isolux Corsan-Soma Enterprise quoted the 2% revenue share for the Panipat-Jalandhar section.
As the existing highways are already under tolling by NHAI, toll collection by the private entrepreneurs will be integrated with the existing tolling infrastructure though there will not be any increase the tolling rates.
The five consortia will be required to furnish an additional performance security, the toll will be credited to an escrow sub-account, drawal from which is linked to the achievement of project milestones.
Source: dnaindia.com
Chennai’s Kathipara Flyover to be completed by Mar 30
February 16, 2008
The construction of the Kathipara Flyover in Chennai finally seems to be heading somewhere. Kathipara Junction is one of the busiest points of the city. It could be called the Gateway of Chennai. Almost all the traffic that comes from the airport has to pass through this point. So, in that sense it is the most important part of the city.
There was a flyover which was proposed in 2004 to bring down the congestion of traffic. The completion date was 2007. But it is still not complete and is delayed by almost one year. It is learnt from the National Highway Authority of India that within two months, the flyover will be in place and the traffic would be diverted from the airport to this flyover.
There are controversies surrounding the junction. The Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation was initially given the responsibility of this project. But because of the delay they were pulled out from it. The project also got stuck because of land acquisition problems. Some of the lands were supposed to be acquired from Defence, which they were not ready to vacate.
It is learnt from sources that they have still not vacated the land. That is why NHAI has to go for a complete change in the plan. But officials are saying that March 30 is the deadline and hopefully they will be completing it by then.
Source: moneycontrol.com
Govt planning toll on two-lane highways too
December 17, 2007
NEW DELHI: Driving on national highways is set to get more expensive with the government planning to start tolling even two-lane stretches besides intensifying the fee-collection across the golden quadrilateral (GQ).
Tolling was so far confined to four and six-lane highways and expressways where upgradation work has been completed. But soon, you would be stopping at toll plazas even on incomplete stretches of highways that link the four metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
However, a major change in policy is the move to charge users for driving on two-lane highways that form nearly 55% of the national network of 66,590 km. Under the new toll policy, the ministry of road transport and highways intends to levy toll on 20,000 km of highways which are to be taken up for upgradation through the public-private partnership route.
“On a four-lane highway, a car user has to pay about 65 paise per km. Now, the plan is to provide the same quality road surface with paved shoulders on two-lane highways and have proper signages. The cost that we are proposing will be 60% of the four-lane cost (roughly 39 paise per km),” road & highways said secretary Brahm Dutt.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Gammon inks pact with Mumbai Port for Rs 1,200-cr terminal project
December 4, 2007
CHENNAI: Gammon India Ltd has informed the BSE that Indira Container Terminal Pvt Ltd, the special purpose vehicle incorporated by the consortium of Gammon and Dragados S.P.L., on December 3 signed the licence agreement with the Mumbai Port Trust for dev eloping the Mumbai Offshore Container Terminal Project.
The project’s estimated cost is Rs 800 crore in the initial phase of three years, and Rs 400 crore subsequently, thus aggregating Rs 1,200 crore.
It is on BOT basis for 30 years, including three years of construction and equipping period, from the date of signing the licence agreement. – Our Bureau
Source: thehindubusinessline.com
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