Maduravoyal-Port corridor delay ups project cost by 15 per cent

Chennai: The much-awaited Maduravoyal-Port elevated corridor taken up by National Highways Authority in 2007 is likely to be delayed further as it is finding it difficult in identifying consultants, said a state official.

The state and the Centre are responsible for the delay in the project till 2015. The project cost is expected to escalate by at least 15 per cent, the official said.

Five years after suspending ongoing work on the elevated road connecting Chennai Port with Maduravoyal, the state government softened its stand and gave its willingness to allow the project to proceed with certain changes in the alignment along Cooum river, but now the project is pending with NHAI.

According to the National Highways Authority of India sources, the original project cost was about Rs 1,815 crore and the delay means an additional expense of at least Rs 100 crore extra from the original plan. 

The state government in 2016 suggested a design change for the elevated corridor on the Cooum river bed from two pillar to single pillar to ensure smooth flow of water beneath. Subsequently union minister for road transport and highways Pon Radhakrishnan conducted field inspections and reviewed the project.

From the date to now there is not much progress in the project, said the state official adding that departments like state highways and Chennai Port are waiting for the early completion of the project as it would decongest a good whole part of Central Chennai and western suburbs, the official noted.

“The Maduravoyal project should have been completed at least four years ago. Both the State and Centre has been ducking over the project thus exposing their incapability to complete a road work. 

Chennaiites are suffering traffic snarls and the highways and the corporation has failed big time to address the traffic woes,” said former Chennai mayor M. Subramanian. 

Efforts to contact NHAI senior officials for the delay in the project proved futile, but NHAI sources maintained that a re-tender has been floated to identify a new consultant to work on the design change and also exit ramps that would come up along the 19 kilometre project.