Chennai: The state government has accorded administrative sanction of Rs 3,000 crore for widening and improvement of state highways, major district roads, bridges and culverts in 2,139 projects under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme (CRIDP). Officials attached to the state highways department and engineers are now on their toes, speeding up the pending road widening projects in the suburban areas. The delay caused by the bureaucratic procedure, contractors’ lethargy, coupled with the monsoon, has pushed up some of the project estimate costs and the revised estimation is done, an inside source said, adding that though funding was not a constraint, the delay had escalated the input costs, affecting the pace of road widening.
“The department has been ducking responsibility in road repair works, with several projects having been announced in the previous budgets. Several bridge works in Chennai, including the Anna Nagar grade separator and the Nelson Manickam road-Anna Arch junction flyover, have already missed their deadlines,” said former Chennai Mayor M. Subramanian. The delay will not only affect motorists, but it will also burden the financials of the state exchequer, he added.
“The much awaited Chennai Tirupati Highway widening from Ambattur is pending for years. Though the authorities have widened the road in some pockets, the entire stretch is yet to be widened beyond Avadi,” said R. Ramesh, a resident of Thirumulaivoyil.
According to informed sources, widening and improvement of state highways bridges and culverts for 2,139 projects have been already identified and the project design is also ready. From January 2015, the work will gain momentum. The chief engineer of the highways department has sent proposals to take up new works to the tune of Rs 5,400 crore under the CRIDP for the year 2014-15, but the sanctions have come only for 60 per cent of the projects, sources said.
