Tenders will soon be called for phase I of Chennai-Kanniyakumari Industrial Corridor Project (CKICP) covering 654 km of State Highway roads at a total cost of ₹6,448 crore.
Sources in the Highways Department said tenders were likely to be called by March and construction would commence as soon as possible.
“The acquisition of land, which is a crucial portion, for the project is at an advanced stage. We have a separate land acquisition unit with 350 persons. Of 360-odd parcels of land, 15 (2) notifications informing about the acquisition of lands and seeking objections of any have been issued. Under this project, we are also accepting private negotiations that would allow land owners to get better rates and speed up the process of acquisition,” explained an official.
Industrial nodes
Thoothukudi-Tirunelveli; Madurai-Dindigul-Virudhunagar-Theni; Cuddalore-Nagapattinam and Ariyalyur-Perambalur industrial nodes are to be covered under the project.
The 15 identified roads will be widened and strengthened to improve connectivity to ports and other transport gateways, proposed industrial nodes, urban and tourist centres.
The Kancheepuram-Chennai (SH 58) and Omalur-Tiruchengode via Sankari ( SH86) roads would be widened into 4-lanes and the other roads including the 110 km long Cheyyur to Polur (SH115), including ECR link, and 74.9-km-long Tiruchendur to Ambasamudram via Palayamkottai (SH40) road, would have a width of 10 mt with hard shoulders.
The project would have 23 bypasses and 10 road overbridges and would be funded through the Asian Development Bank loan. Land acquisition cost of ₹1,574 crore would be borne by the State government with which 463 hectares would be acquired.
For the next phase, tenders have been called for detailed project reports for a total of 1,181 km.
