Work on providing a bitumen-topped surface for a crucial link road connecting Tambaram and Tiruneermalai is expected to begin in a few months.
The link road runs through a patch of reserve forest land and hence, the local body could not carry out repairs all these years. Residents of West Tambaram said that the condition of the road started deteriorating a decade ago. Frequent movement of heavy vehicles transporting construction material had accelerated the damage. At present, motorists negotiated the stretch at great risk of damage to their vehicles.
In 2008, Forest Minister N. Selvaraj, after a joint inspection of the road along with a team of officials, said that the municipality's demand for taking over the land for carrying out improvement works would be looked into.
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An official from the Forest Department said the order of handing over land to the municipality was issued more than a month ago. Tambaram Municipal Chairman E. Mani said the council gave its nod for the project to provide a bitumen-topped surface and work was expected to begin in a couple of months. A sum of Rs.1.28 crore for a distance of about 2.5 km seemed to be on the higher side for bitumen-topped road, but they had designed the road keeping in mind, the movement of heavy vehicles.
The road is the shortest link between West Tambaram and Tiruneermalai. Due to its present condition, motorists were forced to take a circuitous route via Chromepet and Nagalkeni to reach Tiruneermalai. The link road would reduce the distance by more than five km.
Once completed, Metropolitan Transport Corporation services could be operated between Tambaram and Tiruneermalai, residents said. They added that after a concrete road was laid through a patch of land coming under Nanmangalam Reserve Forest, MTC introduced services to Chromepet via Sembakkam, Tirumalai Nagar and Hasthinapuram.
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