T. R. Baalu, Minister of Shipping Road Transport & Highways inaugurates the Four Laning of Namakkal – Karur Section of NH-7

T.R. Baalu inaugurated the Four Laning of Namakkal – Karur section of NH-7 in Velur today. Speaking on the occasion the Minister said that Tamil Nadu has received the focus of attention of the Central Government in development of National Highways. The Golden Quadrilateral length of 342-kms under NHDP Phase-I in Tamil Nadu has been upgraded to four-lane facility at a cost Rs.1,710 crores.

Under NHDP Phase-II, i.e., the North-South Corridor, out of the approved length of 756 kms, 436-km length has been widened to four-lanes, works of four-laning in 15 packages covering 238-km length are in progress and preparation of feasibility report in the remaining 82-km length is under progress. This corridor traversing through Krishnagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Madurai and Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu connects Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border at Hosur with Kanniyakumari. The estimated investment under NHDP Phase–II in Tamil Nadu is estimated to be Rs.4,280 crores. NHDP Phase-III covers 1,464-km length of various National Highways in Tamil Nadu out of which 10-km length has been upgraded to four-lanes on ‘Build, Operate and Transfer’ (BOT) basis. Works in 517-km length in six packages are under implementation. Shortlisting of contractors for four-laning of NH-205 and for the Coimbatore-Mettupalayam Section of NH-67 has been completed. Requests for Qualification for 6 Packages in about 600-km length have also been received and are under evaluation. Preparation of Detailed Project Report in case of one package for 186-km length is in progress. For NHDP Phase –III, the investment is likely to be Rs.9,880 crores.

A total length of 1,232 kms in Tamil Nadu has been included under NHDP Phase IV-A, with an investment of Rs.2,464 crores, for improvement to 2-lane with paved shoulders.

Work of 6-laning of the entire 342-km length of Golden Quadrilateral in Tamil Nadu has been approved under NHDP Phase-V at a cost of Rs.2,736 crores. Besides this, widening to six-lanes of the 93-km long Tamibaram-Tindivanam section of NH-45 has also been approved under Phase-V. The Government has also accorded approval for construction of 150 kms of Expressways in Tamil Nadu under Phase-VI of NHDP at a cost of Rs.3,000 crores.

Shri. Baalu said that Chennai City, which is not only the capital of Tamil Nadu but also economic hub of South India, has been given due priority in the programme of improvement. Four-laning of Chennai Bypass Phase-I has been completed. Construction of four-lane Chennai Bypass Phase-II at a cost of Rs.480 crores is in progress. Improvement of access to the Golden Quadrilateral Corridor is in progress, which includes the flyover at Chennai Airport, which was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 19th October 2008 and the Grade Separator at Kathipara which was also inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 26th October 2008. Construction of two more Grade Separators at Koyambedu and Padi as well as four-laning of Koyambedu-Maduravoyal section of NH-4 within Chennai City also form part of the improvement of access facilities to the Golden Quadrilateral Corridor. These access facilities will cost Rs.800 crores.

Construction of the ROB at Lalapet on NH-67 in lieu of the existing level crossing has recently been completed at a cost of Rs.28 crores out of Ministry’s Budget and opened to traffic on 11th January 2009. This ROB was a long awaited need for the traffic plying on NH-67 as well as for the local people. The existing level crossing was a big bottleneck to the traffic movement as it was subjected to frequent closure leading to enormous wastage of time and fuel and inconvenience to the road users.

Improvement of the Karur-Coimbatore section of NH-67 along with construction of paved shoulder on either side of the carriageway has been taken up out of Ministry’s budgetary resources. The improvement would substantially add to the convenience to the road users. Estimated cost of this project is Rs.178 crores. The project is targeted for completion by March 2009. Work in 89-km length has been completed.

The total investment by Government of India in Tamil Nadu under various phases of NHDP is in the order of Rs.33,000 crores and so far nearly a sum of Rs.13,000 crores has already been invested.

The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) entails massive unprecedented investments to the tune of Rs.2,35,690 crore. Improvement of 5,701-km length has been completed under Golden Quadrilateral out of total length of 5,846-km, and the works are in progress in the remaining length of 145 kms. Under the North-South and East-West Corridors, works have been completed in 2,965-km length out of total length of 7,142 kms and the works are under implementation in 3,356-km length.