9.9.11

ECR to connect Kanyakumari



In a move to strengthen TN’s infrastructure, chief minister J Jayalalithaa has announced that the scenic East Coast Road (ECR) along the Bay Bengal would be extended up to Kanyakumari at a cost of about Rs 250 crore. Making a statement in the assembly, she said the project was being taken up to prevent accidents and to cut short travel time. At present the ECR, built with the help of Asian Development Bank and World Bank, extends up to Tuticorin, covering nearly 700km. One of the most ambitious of infrastructure projects, the ECR was also among the first of a series of public-private initiatives commissioned in 1998. The then DMK government approved the project in February 2000 and the construction work began in February 2001, three months before the assembly elections which returned the AIADMK to power. A year later the first stretch up to Puducherry was completed. “Taking into consideration the usage of this road, it will be extended as a doublelane stretch up to Anjugramam in Kanyakumari district along a distance of 113km at a cost of Rs 257 crore,” the chief minister said, adding that as part of the project, nine bypass roads, three major bridges and one railway bridge will also be constructed. Jayalalithaa said as bridges were necessary at railway crossings, as many as 23 railway overbridges and underbridges across the state will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 740 crore. Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Villupuram, Coimbatore, Salem, Ramanathapuram, Dindigul and Tirunelveli will get these facilities. She said apart from this, bypasses will be built at Sivaganga (10.6km) and Edapadi (8.6km) to ease traffic congestion. “As many as 65 bridges, including those to replace the damaged ones, will be constructed at a cost of Rs 151 crore in 18 districts,” she said. In the budget, the state government had announced that it would take up improvement of 2,500km of highways at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore under the Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project-–Phase II with financial support from the World Bank. During 2011-2012, Rs 1,450 crore is allotted under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme (CRIDP) which will be used for taking up road widening, improvement, reconstruction of bridges and culverts.

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