Madurai AIIMS construction will be over by mid-2027, reveals RTI reply

CHENNAI: The much-awaited Madurai AIIMS construction is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. The management has confirmed to an RTI petition that the campus will be up and ready in 33 months from the notice to proceed (NTP) order issued to the contractor Larsen and Toubro on May 22, 2024.

Construction for the facility is underway at Thoppur in Madurai. The Central Public Officer of AIIMS confirmed the status of project work to an RTI activist named R Pandiaraja.

The first phase of the hospital cum medical college, being built at Rs.2021.51 crore, is expected to be completed by mid-2027, according to the RTI response. Works are in progress on building an academic block, nursing college, UG and PG hostel, nursing students' hostel, dining hall, OPD block, ID block, and service zones, the RTI petitioner said based on the response.

The AIIMS project for Tamil Nadu was announced on February 28, 2015. The site at Thoppur was identified on June 18, 2018, and the Union Cabinet gave its approval on December 17, 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone on January 27, 2019.

Even though the Union issued a gazette notification for establishing AIIMS on July 3, 2020, and the college started functioning from temporary premises, the proposed 222.24 acres site at Thoppur in Madurai was left with the foundation stone, leading to an outcry. DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin lifted up a single brick during an election rally in 2021 to show how the Union government had put the project on the back burner, building pressure on the BJP-led Centre.

Meanwhile, the budget of the Madurai AIIMS was enhanced to Rs 2000 crore in January 2021, as it was upgraded to a Super Specialty Hospital cum Medical College.

The Centre is sourcing 85% of the project's funds from the funding agency Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and contributing the remaining 15%.