Width of Chennai Peripheral Road reduced

Land requirement, acquisition costs for Rs. 10,000-Cr. project to come down

The width of the proposed Rs. 10,000-crore Chennai Peripheral Road — to connect Poonjeri village in Mamallapuram and Kattupalli near Minjur — has been reduced from 450 feet to 200 feet.

This will help reduce land acquisition costs and land requirement for the 162-kilometre-long road, planned as yet another semi-circular corridor around Chennai.

According to officials, the reduced width will also mean a smaller median — eight metres against the originally-planned 22 metres.

Currently, the land plan schedule — wherein details of land required for the road will be fixed — is under preparation. Civil work on the road is expected to commence in about two years since funding is also required.

The State government has written to the Centre for loan assistance for laying the road. The cost of construction alone is expected to be around Rs. 2,500 crore. Land acquisition will cost over Rs. 7,000 crore. In a few months, owners of land identified for the project will be intimated and the land acquisition process will commence. Meanwhile, plenty of real-estate activity is taking place along the proposed stretch. It is not the big developers, however. “Small parcels of agricultural and panchami land (people can build homes, but not use them for commercial purposes) are being converted to plots. But buyers should check with the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the Directorate of Town and Country Planning before investing or buying property here,” cautions a real estate agent.

R.K. Elango, a farmer of Putlur village in Tiruvallur district, is worried his property will be part of land acquisition for the project. “We do not want compensation in the form of cash but want land we can use to continue with our livelihood,” he says.

Existing roads running to a length of 78.6 km, including the Singaperumal Koil-Sriperumbudur Road (approximately 23 km), are now being converted to four-lane stretches, say officials.

The Sriperumbudur–Tiruvallur Road (18 km) stretches from Thamaraipakkam to Periyapalayam (12 km) and Puduvoyal to Pulicat (6 km), and another 15 km to Kattupalli will also benefit under the Peripheral Road project.

Land requirement, acquisition costs for Rs. 10,000-Cr. to come down