Work on Port-Maduravoyal Elevated Corridor Resumes

March 13, 2014

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By C Shivakumar – CHENNAI

Photos

Work going on at Spurtank Road, in the city on Monday | Albin Mathew

The much delayed Chennai Port-Maduravoyal elevated corridor project may be completed in another 30 months as the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) resumed the work on Monday.

The work to clear way for the vehicles to ply in the area along the Cooum river has been started on Spur Tank Road, NHAI Chief General Manager (Technical), Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Chinna Reddy, told Express.

It may be recalled that following a High Court order on February 20, 2014, Reddy has stated that the work would start within three months. “But with the manpower and machinery at our disposal, the work has started with immediate effect after consultations,” Reddy said, adding, he expected to finish the project in the next 30 months.

Initially, NHAI is looking at laying the foundation along the Cooum. “One ground of land was cleared and the work began at around 11 am,” said an official at the site.

The construction of pile caps along the river stretch has been a bone of contention between the State government and the NHAI. The project hit a roadblock on March 2012 after the Water Resources Department issued a ‘stop work’ notice saying the alignment of the corridor along the banks of the Cooum had deviated from the original plan.

The biggest challenge for the NHAI is to get the slums vacated on the stretch. “There are a number of places where the slums have to be evicted by the State and the land has to be handed over to the NHAI,” said Reddy.

Other Projects

Reddy said the State government was yet to constitute land acquisition units for the 262-km Bangalore-Chennai Expressway that will run through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. He said other states have already set up the units.

He also said Rs 1,000 crore road improvement project in 300 kilometres across the State would be taken up under Engineering Procurement and Construction scheme after there were no takers for Build Operate Transfer (BOT) process.

The project would be carried out in the stretch linking Madurai, Rameswaram, Karaikudi, Thanjavur and Chidambaram.

Source-http://www.newindianexpress.com/