Chennai: Four years after suspending the ongoing work on the elevated road connecting Chennai Port with Maduravoyal, the state government seems to have softened its stand and willing to allow the project to proceed with certain changes in the alignment.
According to the National Highways Authority of India sources, state highways department secretary Rajeev Ranjan wrote to NHAI chairman on Friday with suggestions on the Rs 1,815 crore project suspended following the water resources department issuing a work stoppage notice in March 2012 for locating the piers of the elevated road inside the Cooum river bed deviating from the approved alignment.
The state government has suggested changing of the design for the elevated corridor on the Cooum river bed from two pillar to single pillar to ensure smooth flow of water beneath it and also to constitute a high-level committee comprising of officials from NHAI, state HD, PWD and Chennai port trust on changing alignment of the corridor at the starting point near War Memorial.
Minister of state for road transport and highways Pon Radhakrishnan told reporters in New Delhi that the Centre was ready to make some changes in the project if the state government wanted and the state gave its suggestion through its communication on Friday.
A senior highways department official denied making any suggestions to the NHAI to revive the project. “There have been series of discussion. Main purpose of the letter is for maintenance of the road between Koyambedu and Maduravoyal and we have asked for Rs 21 crore we have spent on the road which was in bad shape,” the official said, adding that the suggestion of the single pillar was made by the NHAI not the state government.
“We have not given any approval for the project,” the official said. A senior NHAI official said that the state government’s communication indicates their willingness to revive the project.
“That’s why the government has asked the NHAI to bore the cost for the change in alignment at the starting point near War Memorial,” the official said, adding that NHAI had written to the state highways department to take over 4 km stretch between Koyambedu and Maduravoyal if the project was not revived. “For that the highways department have asked for Rs 21 crore for maintenance,” the official noted.
