Oct 16, 2018 / The Times of India
CHENNAI: Six years after the Chennai Port-Maduravoyal elevated expressway was halted by the erstwhile J Jayalalithaa government, citing environmental violations, the project cost has been revised to 2,400 crore from 1,815 crore.
The project’s executing agency, National highway Authority of India (NHAI), is gearing to resume the 19 - km expressway soon, sources said.
Authorities said the revised project report was submitted to NHAI’s project unit in Chennai on Saturday by L&T.
“There is no significant change in the alignment of the road. We are sticking to the original plan and acquiring 14,000sqm of defence land near Napier Bridge along the expressway alignment,” an official source said.
Land acquisition for the project has been initiated and authorities are in the process of floating a new tender for the revised programme, said the source. Authorities confirmed that the existing structures (twin pillars) constructed for nearly 5km at Koyambedu and on the Cooum River banks in Chetpet would be used. But, an expert team would inspect the pillars to check the stability and aging factor. “As per the recommendations of the state government, a single column pier will be constructed instead of twin column,” the source added.
A detailed project report has also been prepared to extend the elevated expressway by 10km from Maduravoyal to Poonamallee. It would be carried out as part of the second phase of the project, sources said. The project was started in the month of September 2010, but it was stalled in 2011 by the Jayalalithaa government stating that the construction of pillars on the Cooum river would have an adverse impact on the environment and would also result in flooding of the residential area on either side of the river during the monsoon. Nearly 14km of the 19km elevated expressway runs along the Cooum.
The concession agreement was terminated in May 2016 after the contractor sought compensation. After the Edapaddi K Palaniswami government expressed keenness to resume the project, it signed the state support agreement (SSA) with the centre to extend its support. Union minister of state for shipping and ports Pon Radhakrishnan aggressively pushed for the project to ease the container traffic to the port and reduce travel time.