6-lane project needs to be completed soon: Stalin writes to Gadkari

CHENNAI: In his demi-official letter to minister Gadkari, Stalin referred to party's Central Chennai MP Dayanidhi Maran's Parliament speech regarding the project and said that the six-laning works in progress from Sriperumbudur to Walajapet section have been "held up due to contractual issues between the contractors and NHAI and hence the condition of the existing road is very bad."

The response from the Chief Minister comes in the wake of Union Minister Gadkari pointing the finger towards the State for the slow pace of highway projects.

Took train due to poor road condition: CM

Describing the road segment as vital connectivity from Chennai and its ports to the industrial clusters in Kancheepuram, Vellore, Ranipet, Hosur and Krishnagiri, the Chief Minister said, "The condition of the road is so bad that I had to plan my recent visits to a few districts by train." Expressing disappointment at Gadkari's "very general and non-committal" reply to the issue in the Parliament, the CM cited the Madras High Court order reducing the toll fare by 50% on the high way and requested the union minister to "issue suitable instructions to the NHAI officials to expedite the six-laning works and maintain the road stretch in good condition."

Drawing the minister's attention to the support extended by his government to NHAI projects in the state, Stalin cited the revival of the Chennai Port - Madurvoyal Elevated Expressway Project by extending every possible help, including granting exemption from royalty on aggregates, and said, "Similar concessions, which were never given in the past, have been extended to other major NHAI projects. Based on the requests from your side, the validity of soil / gravel permits has been extended from 3 months to 1 year on May 9, 2022. A Special Cell has been constituted in the State Headquarters to monitor land acquisition for highway projects."

Asserting that permissions from forest department are also being reviewed and no major NHAI project was held up for want of such permissions, the CM said that the progress in land acquisition and borrow earth permissions by the district collectors was being regularly monitored at the level of the chief secretary. Adding that other requests for providing borrow earth free of cost by waiving the material cost, royalty and seigniorage charges were also under consideration, the CM said that with all such sincere efforts by the state government, it was unfortunate that an impression that the State Government was not cooperating with NHAI has been underlined in your reply in the Parliament.

"I assure you that it is not true and we have been trying our best to expedite all major infrastructure projects without discriminating between the projects undertaken by the State and Union Governments, " the CM added, assuring to extend all necessary cooperation for NHAI projects in the state.