Road projects to make commuting easy

Chennai: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Friday announced a series of infra projects under which 80 new bridges and road-widening projects in greater Chennai are to be taken up at a cost of Rs 744 crore.

Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly, she said the outer ring road and radial roads connecting Chennai with Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts will be widened.

The Chennai-Chittoor-Bengaluru highway and Pallavaram-Thoraippakkam radial road would be converted into six lanes from the existing four lanes. Similarly, Chengalpet-Tiruporur, Mudhichur-Sriperumbudur, Kodambakkam-Sriperumbudur stretch, Kancheepuram-Tiruttani road and Sriperumbudur-Tiruvallur-Red Hills Road will be widened in a phased manner covering a distance of 141.6 km, she said. Elaborating on the bridge works to be taken in southern and western districts, she said the state would get funds through Nabard to execute the infrastructure works at an outlay of Rs 159 crore. Most of these bridges are coming up in rural areas and will benefit farmers to travel easily with agricultural produce.

Further, to decongest traffic in Hosur and parts of Krishnagiri district, an 18.40 km outer ring road will be constructed between Jujuwadi and Perandapalli and 60.16 hectares of land would be acquired for the purpose, she said. Land acquisition will be done at a cost of Rs 215 crore, she said.

New check dams to be built, lakes to be restored

Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Friday announced construction of new check dams and restoration of 49 lakes located in Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore and Virudhunagar districts.

Making a suo statement in the Assembly on Friday, she said that her government has identified a series of projects aimed at benefitting irrigation lands and to improve the groundwater table across TN. The restoration of lakes will cost '22 crore for the state and will benefit 3,789 acres of agricultural land.

To help farmers in Sivagangai and Ramanadhapuram, a new check dam will be constructed across Vaigai river at a cost of Rs 10 crore.

She also said that the works related to the restoration of Mettur dam and the check dams located along its tributaries entering Erode district will be spruced up in the current year.

To prevent pollution and  flooding along Varaganadhi river, a restoration project for the river, which includes bund strengthening, will be taken up at a cost of '15 crore, she said.