Southern port-ferry projects in New Delhi’s plans

The Centre government in New Delhi has approved more than one Lakh crore rupees worth of projects for Tamil Nadu, announced Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

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These projects will cover the Highways, Shipping and Port and for finding a permanent solution to the irrigation and drinking water requirements of the southern state, he told a joint press conference with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami after a review meeting of Central and State government.

The announcement included Rs.40,000 crore of Road and Highway projects. These includes development of three elevated corridors – Rs.2,250 crore Tambaram- Chengelpatu, Rs.1,500 crore Poonamalee- Maduravoyal Corridor, and the Rs1,000 crore Tiruvallur Corridor.

The Tambaram-Vandalur, Vandalur-Guduvanchery section of the Highway will be upgraded to 8 lane Highway with a budget of Rs.72 crores. This will solve the traffic congestion at the Tambaram-Perungalathur bridge.

The Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway, costing Rs.20,000 crore, will boost industrialisation and development activities along the express way, said the Minister, requesting the state Government to earnestly take up land acquisition, shift utilities and help timely start of work on the project.

Approval has been given for six laning of the Koyambedu-Poonamalee-Wallajahpet road at a cost of Rs.1,500 crores, said Gadkari.

Projects to be awarded this year includes Rs.4,000 crore Tiruchi-Chidambaram Highway and the Rs.6,000 crore upgrade of Villupuram- Nagapattinam section.

Other projects to be approved include the Rs.500 crore Chennai-TADA.

Elaborating on the Bhartmala project that links port terminals to the hinterland, Gadkari said six projects are being taken up – 335-km Nagapattinam to Tuticorin, 62-km Madurai-Kollam, 71-km Vellakoil-Erode, 38-km Madurai-Natham, 44-km Madurai-Theni and 44-km Musiri-Namakkal.

Ring road development will be taken up in Madurai, Tiruchi and Salem.

Rs.2,000 crore has also been sanctioned to the State PWD to develop the Dindigul-Kottampati road into a National Highway.

Elsewhere, 1,300-km of State Highways are being upgraded to National Highways in the state, including 55-km Perambalur-Attu, 141-km Salem-Vanniyampadi, 85-km Thoppur- Mettur-Erode and 91-km Tirupur-Ottanchatiram (91kms).

The Centre is funding Rs.2,300 crore rupees for preventive measures in 61 identified black spots of frequent accidents.

The Minister said the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Madurai, Coimbatore and Salem bus ports – terminals with the latest facilities like an airport – will be prepared soon.

On the Shipping front, the Minister noted that Tamil Nadu is the only state with three major ports which would be improved to facilitate exports and industrialisation, and value addition under the Sagarmala programme.

Coal movement from Orissa through Paradip to Ennore and Tuticorin will significantly reduce the logistics cost of coal. He hoped to improve the coal handling productivity in all three ports.

Coastal movement of petroleum products, LPG and automobiles is the lifeline of the industry of Tamil Nadu.

Referring to Tuticorin port, Gadkari said the depth is to be increased from the present 14 metres to 16.5 m. It would cost Rs.3,000 crore and help the port to handle 130,000 tonnage vessels from the present capacity of 60,000 tonnage ships, reducing the logistic cost by 30 percent.

Passenger ferry services are being planned between Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram and between Kanyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram. The Centre would provide full support, he added, calling on the private operators to come forward and participate in the ferry projects.

Coastal berths are being built at Cuddalore at a cost of Rs.115 crore while similar facilities are coming at Chennai and Tuticorin ports.

The Minister said Water resources ministry has decided to transfer surplus Godavari river waters to the Cauvery via the Krishna and Pennar Rivers.

A meeting of the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu will be convened soon to discuss the project, he disclosed.

Initially water would be lifted from Godavari river upstream of Pollavaram project and would be released into the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam on River Krishna. Further, the water would be taken from Krishna upto Somasilam project on river Pennar and from there to Grand Annaicut on the Cauvery. fii-news.com