Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said on Wednesday that Centre has proposed to lay a four-lane national highway on the east coast from Kanyakumari to Chennai.
Mr. Radhakrishnan was here to lay the foundation for construction of approaches to a road-over-bridge in Villianur at an estimated cost of Rs. 28.98 crore and also inaugurated a major bridge constructed at the cost of Rs.12.84 crore across Thirumalairajanar in Karaikal. Chief Minister N.Rangasamy, Cabinet ministers and MLAs were present on the occasion.
Mr. Radhakrishnan said, “In order to improve better connectivity and infrastructure, the ministry has proposed to lay a four-lane highway converting the existing East Coast Road which is under purview of Tamil Nadu government. The Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has proposed to spend Rs.10,000 crore on this project. If Tamil Nadu government hands over the existing road and land, the project is likely to be taken up soon.”
He also pointed out that the proposed highway would decongest the traffic on the present National Highway- 7 which connects Chennai and Kanyakumari. Adding that Puducherry would also benefit from the proposed highway, he said famous temples of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are located on the east coast and more number of tourists would like to travel on the highway.
The Union Minister of State also said the creation of inland waterways project National Waterway- 4 from Kakinada to Puducherry has also been on the pipeline and stated that the waterway would come into use soon.
He also said after Bharatiya Janata Party-led government came to the power at the Centre, Union Ministry led by Mr. Gadkari set a target of laying road for 30 km per day across the nation. The ministry has achieved 20 km per day, Mr. Radhakrishnan said and hoped that soon the target would be achieved.
He stated that once Colachel port would come into operation, the Union government would introduce ferry services from Kanyakumari to Chennai on Bay of Bengal.
