Vikravandi-Thanjai National Highway to open by December, says Nitin Gadkari

TIRUCHY: The Vikravandi-Thanjavur national highway constructed at the cost of Rs 4,730 crore is nearing completion and will be opened within three months, said the union minister Nitin Gadkari in Thanjavur on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, Minister Nitin Gadkari cited the slow pace of land acquisition by the state government as the reason for the delay in the national highway projects in Tamil Nadu.

Highlighting that the Vikravandi-Thanjavur bypass has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 4,730 crore to a distance of 164 km, the minister said, “Works on Thanjavur-Cholapuram and Cholapuram-Sethiyathoppu stretches are nearing completion and the remaining five per cent of works will be completed soon”, he said.

Stating that the expansion of the Ranipet-Chennai bypass has been undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 15,000 crore, the minister said, this project would decongest the heavy vehicle flow in Chennai-Bengaluru and Chennai-Andhra Pradesh sections. In addition, works to link Maduravoyal ring road and Sripermpudur and Chennai- Bengaluru express highway via Ranipet have commenced, he said.

The minister added that four-lane construction work, covering Kovai-Sathyamangalam, Thoothukudi-Kanniyakumari, Ramanad-Rameshwaram, and Madurai-Theni bypasses, to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore to a total length of 727 km is under way in Tamil Nadu.

Stating that as many as 451 highway projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore have been completed between 2014 and 2024 in Tamil Nadu, the minister said, this was possible only with the support of the state government, he said.

He appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to expedite the land acquisition process for the highway projects so that the projects would be completed within the stipulated time. “We plan to ensure the road infrastructure is on par with the US,” he said.