Delays and dithering over two civic infrastructure projects, both around Anna Nagar in the city, have come to reflect poorly on the civic administration.
While work on relaying Anna Nagar Main Road is underway for a year now, the Anna Nagar link road project has come to become a showpiece of ineptitude and neglect over the past three years.
Relaying of Anna Nagar Main Road was sanctioned at a cost of Rs.50 lakh over a year ago, but the corporation has been able to complete the task on only one half of the road that runs less than a kilometer in distance. Work on the other carriageway has come to a grinding halt, though a stretch of this road has been blocked in front of the corporation grounds for over three months now. Except for the construction of a drainage, there has been no progress on the work even while traffic has been diverted creating a dangerous bottleneck in front of Ukkrakaliamman Temple.
Being an arterial road for mofussil buses and other road users in the city, the closure of one half of the road has put motorists in much trouble.
Corporation sources attribute the slow pace of work to lime treatment that is to be provided for the sub-soil as the road stretch is prone to frequent damage.
Besides, rain has intervened now. But these are no justification for the absence of any progress in the work, say locals. “The road is yet to be properly and fully re-laid ever since it took a beating during the 2010 monsoon. It could have been easily completed during the summer,” says Vinod, an autorickshaw driver.
Further up the road, the Anna Nagar link road project has hardly made any progress even though the work resumed in June after several stoppages over the past three years.
Except for a few incomplete piles, the corporation has hardly made any progress in constructing the bridge across the Uyyakondan river.
The project was sanctioned several years ago at a cost of about Rs.4.38 crore, which includes a grant of Rs.1.20 crore from the Seed Capital Assistance Scheme of Department of Town and Country Planning.
Significantly, the civic body decided to erect new piles apparently after discovering that the location of previous ones erected over the past two years were unsuitable for the structure.
The bridge would run for just about 35.60 metres while the approach roads would run for about 685 metres.
The project was expected to ease the congestion on the Thillai Nagar Main Road and the Woraiyur Road, and was originally conceived as an extension of the Karur Bypass Road that was opened several years ago.
