“Ennore-Manali road project has been put on fast track”

Despite issues, TNRDC officials confident of completing work before deadline

The Rs.600-crore Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) has been put on the fast track and will be completed before the target date, a top official of Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC) said on Tuesday.

Talking to The Hindu , he said work on the project was going in full swing after the intervention of Speaker D. Jayakumar on March 14. Issue-based review meetings were being held on a fortnightly basis to monitor the progress. The first meeting was chaired by Mr. Jayakumar. The next meeting will be held before April 20.

Doubts were raised by stakeholders during the first meeting about the presence of transformers in middle of the road and shifting of utilities on time. Mr. Jayakumar asked officials to hold inspections within a few days and complete the shifting work by April 30.

“Four transformers have been shifted from the western side of the road to the eastern side. All these transformers were in the middle of the road. Road cutting work will be taken up in the next two days to provide power supply to the industries on the eastern side. Shifting of Metrowater lines and sewage pipes have to be hastened,” said another TNRDC official.

Regarding the widening of the 1.6-km road from Chennai Port Trust zero gate to S.N. Chetty Street, he said the N4 Fishing Harbour Police Station was shifted recently and the A/C sheet roofing and steel trusses would be removed on Wednesday. Besides, two petrol bunks and a Bhavani Amman temple have to be shifted soon.

A ChPT official said the petrol bunk was leased to oil firms for an 11-month period. The project required only a portion of the land and it could be handed over to officials concerned any time.

However, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said they had been writing to ChPT since October 2011 asking for the land on which the petrol bunk was situated. On April 7, the TNRDC wrote to ChPT asking it to hand over the petrol bunk land to them by April 16, so that the contractor could commence the work.

“If the Bhavani Amman temple is relocated immediately, it would give us a long stretch of land. The renovation work on the 146 fishing stalls is on and ChPT officials are trying to hand over the allotment letter to the rightful owners by the month-end,” TNRDC official said.