Highways crawl in Baalu146;s backyard

Two years ago, Union Transport Minister T R Baalu had said that given Chennai8217;s importance as the 8220;economic hub of south India,8221;

Two years ago, Union Transport Minister T R Baalu had said that given Chennai8217;s importance as the 8220;economic hub of south India,8221; his Ministry had given 8220;due priority8221; to the 8220;improvement of national highways.8221; He referred to two projects that he said would be completed in two years: improving access within Chennai city to the Golden Quadrilateral and a 4-lane Chennai bypass.

Records, however, show that these are running way behind schedule and are set to miss their deadline.

The most glaring example, however, is the project that Baalu showcases, the 8220;improvement of access of GQ within Chennai city.8221; It envisages four flyovers that includes one near the Chennai airport plus a small section of highway that needs to be four-laned.

On paper, this project that started in April 2005 at a cost of Rs 210 crore is scheduled to be completed next month. But as of February, work completed was less than even 20, not one flyover has been completed.

South Chennai is Baalu8217;s Parliamentary constituency and part of this project falls in it. Not only have there been delays in land acquisition 8212; only 50 of the land needed for the airport flyover has been made available 8212; there have been delays in getting the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company, the engineering consultant for the project, to sign off on the drawings and design as well.

Last Friday, NHAI officials said the minister held a meeting where it was decided to reduce the 8220;scope8221; of the project 8212; that would do away with at least one section of the airport flyover.

Work on four-laning a 9-km stretch on the Chennai-Ennore Expressway started in May 2006 and is due for completion by December this year. However, latest records show that as against a target completion of 22, only 1.5 of this Rs 45-crore project is complete.

This project is supposed to provide key road connectivity to major ports. Reason for delay: officials said land could not be procured from BSNL on time for rehabilitation and it was only recently that land has been acquired from All India Radio for the project.

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Four-laning of the 32-km, Rs 480-crore Chennai Bypass project began in May 2005 and is due for completion in November this year.

As per plans, more than 60 of the work should have been completed by February. But information from NHAI shows that less than 25 has been completed. Deadline for completion has already been extended by two months.

This time, land acquisition is not the issue but the 8220;high water level8221; in this area that, officials said, is a problem during construction.

However, they said that one phase of the project would be opened for traffic within this year, in about four months time.

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If these are examples in and around Chennai, there are other projects in Tamil Nadu which have already missed their deadlines.

For instance, the Tuticorin project on NH 7 A Tuticorin- Tirunelveli section which envisages four-laning of 47.2 km of national highway. Only 22 of the work that started in February 2004 has been completed to date. And this Rs 230-crore project is to provide road connectivity to major ports. The date for completion now is December 2007.

The official reason for the delay for this port connectivity project is that landowners were not adequately compensated by the earlier state government. Added to this, they said that poor performance of the contractors also led to delay in the project.