With National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI) receiving the clearance from the Chennai division of
the Southern railways for the drawings of the two flyovers last week, the last
hurdle for the resumption of work on the Chennai Port- Maduravoyal elevated
corridor project after a span of 12 years has been overcome. By all
indications,
Work on the project is expected resume by May this year.
Chairman of the
Chennai Port authority Sunil Paliwal announced this at a news conference got up
to inaugurate the first cargo service between Chennai port and Puducherry at
the port premises on February 27th.
He said the all
important coastal regulation clearance for the project was received in January
this year. The Chennai divisional manager of the southern railway has cleared
the drawings for the two flyovers that would be built as part of the elevated
corridor last week.
Tenders will be called to identify the PPP contractor who will implement
the project on March 8th. It would take at least a month to evaluate
the tenders. In all Likelihood work on the project may resume by May this year.
Meanwhile the Union Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had issued two official
statements saying that the elevated corridor project of the Chennai Port will
be completed by middle of 2024. Industry
sources said this deadline set by the Minister will be too hard to achieve
since hardly 12 months are left between now and the deadline date.
The project is
being jointly executed by National Highways authority of India, Chennai Port
and the Tamil Nadu government.