Expressway hits speed-breaker
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Work on the Rs 1,815 crore Port-Maduravoyal elevated expressway project has come to a standstill with the public works department (PWD) asking the National Highways Authority of India to suspend the work immediately as it did not approved the alignment of the elevated structure along the Cooum.
According to NHAI sources, PWD’s water resource organisation chief engineer Nanjan on Friday wrote to the project director to stop the work immediately. Sources said in the first letter in February, PWD initially objected to the piles being laid hindering flow of water rather than on the banks of the river.
“We replied that the works are being carried as per the approved alignment. But PWD wrote back claiming that it had not cleared the alignment. PWD had issued a government order in 2007 clearing the work,” NHAI official said.
The highways official said its senior officials in Delhi would take up the issue with the Tamil Nadu government to ensure continuation of the project.
The NHAI had so far completed 20 per cent of the total work and spent over Rs 700 crore for the project. “If the works are suspended now, it would not be able to meet the project deadline of Sept. 2013,” official said. Work on Koyambedu to Maduravoyal section of the project began in Sept. 2010. The work on the Chennai Port to Koyambedu section, which runs along river Cooum, started in March 2011.
“The project includes resettlement and rehabilitation of over 7,100 families living along the Cooum at a cost of Rs 470 crore,” the official said. The 19 km-long four-lane expressway is expected to reduce travel time between the Chennai port and Maduravoyal.
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