With the issuing of no-objection certificate (NOC) by the Tamil Nadu government, decks have been cleared for NHAI to launch the construction work on expanding the existing two lanes 105-km long road of the East Coast Road (ECR) between Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry to four lanes. The NOC had been stuck as Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation, the agency that maintains ECR, demanded ₹222 crore as compensation for handing over the required land but NHAI refused to pay and road work did not begin despite the fact that ₹3,000 crore had been sanctioned under the Bharatmala Pariyojana scheme.
