Work to widen and strengthen Taramani Link Road is expected to be completed this December.
The work was delayed because a drain being constructed on the road is yet to be completed.
On Friday, a team of officials from the World Bank suggested the installation of 15 precast slabs per day along the road, to speed up work on the drain. At present, the Public Works Department (PWD) is only installing 10 precast slabs per day.
The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has requested the PWD to ensure the drain is completed by August, so that work on widening the road can then begin.
The World Bank, which is funding the project, has already accepted CMDA’s request to extend the deadline for the completion of the project, originally scheduled to be finished in March 2011. The CMDA had first sought and received an extension until March 2012. This is the second extension it has sought.
Once widened and strengthened, the road will improve connectivity between Velachery and Rajiv Gandhi Salai.
The project is part of a comprehensive urban transportation initiative undertaken by the State government with World Bank assistance, under Third Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP-III).
Initially, the alignment of the drain, which is being built under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission was in conflict with the road-widening project. So the contract was cancelled and was then re-awarded, after the first contractor was unable to complete the project.
Improvement in the traffic and transportation sectors within the Chennai metropolitan area is one of the urban investment components covered under TNUDP III.
This component is coordinated by a project management unit of the CMDA.
While roads, bridges, grade separators and pedestrian subways are implemented through a project implementation unit of the State highways department, the traffic improvement programme comes under the city traffic police.
