Chennai: The Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s vision of world class roads that would connect ports in Tamil Nadu may soon get a fillip with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) mulling a huge investment in the state on infrastructure.
Speaking on the sidelines of a CII logistics infrastructure conference in the city on Friday, Rajeev Ranjan, principal secretary, highways and minor ports, Tamil Nadu, said the state was trying to impress upon ADB to extend the East Coast Economic Corridor linking Kolkata and Visakhapatnam till Thoothukudi via Chennai.
“When extended, there would be a seamless road transport from Kolkata to Thoothukudi,” he added. ADB has already initiated a feasibility study on Visakhapatnam-Chennai corridor, which is expected to be ready by October.
Further, according to Mr Ranjan, the state government would look at pushing for more prominence to Chennai in the Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridor, which would be extended up to Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
With three ports - Chennai Port Trust, Kamarajar Port and Kattupalli port - the state deserves due importance in this industrial corridor developed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). On growth plans like development of Nagapattinam port in a PPP model and creation of a ship building yard in Thoothukudi port, Mr Ranjan said that background work was going on.
Earlier, Chennai Port Trust chairman Atulya Misra said that the city port would give emphasis to coastal shipping as envisaged by the Centre. “The Marine Highway project between Chennai and Kamarajar ports is also in the tendering stage,” he added. He further said that CPT would also utilise the land in non-cargo areas to earn revenue for the port.
