NHAI fast tracks ₹5,855-cr elevated road corridor

The National Highway Authority of India has hastened the construction work on the 20.6km long double-decker elevated highway between Chennai Port and Maduravoyal involving ₹5,855 crore investments. The elevated corridor will be constructed in a phased manner comprising four packages and of the 20.6 km the 12-km corridor will be a double-decked corridor. While it would take 24 months to 36 months to complete, the focus is on getting the land belonging to the Indian Navy by building separate quarters on the army land in Saidapet. It is learnt that NHAI has been mandated to build houses for Navy personnel comprising two blocks of 32 flats each. The project, which was inaugurated by two PMs, was initially suspended in 2012 due to a row between the Water Resources Department (WRD) and NHAI during the regime of then CM J Jayalalitha. In 2015, Nitin Gandkari, wanted to break the deadlock and was working on an out-of-court settlement since then. After an initial Detailed Project Report was submitted in 2019 to revive the project, Gadkari asked Larsen and Toubro to redesign the project as a double-decker elevated corridor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project in May this year and shortly after that tenders for the construction of a two-tier, four-lane elevated corridor under the Prime Minister Gati Shakti programme were called recently.