Work on the first phase of the monorail project is likely to begin in June. The state government is set to float technical and financial bids (final request for proposal) in March for 57 km phase I, estimated to cost Rs.8,500 crore.
This comes after months of dilly-dallying over the qualification of the prospective bidders for the project that was announced in 2011. With traffic congestion reaching alarming proportions, the state government wants to get the project, which it believes will be the answer to the city’s traffic woes, off the ground at the earliest. The ongoing metro rail project covers 45 km of arterial roads — Jawaharlal Nehru Salai (100 Feet Road), Anna Salai and EVR Periyar Salai (Poonamallee High Road) — in two corridors.
The plan is to bring the five prospective bidders, including Scomi International, Gammon India and Larson and Toubro, on board. They were selected from the eight consortiums that participated in the qualification bidding last year. A high-level empowered committee led by transport minister V Senthil Balaji is overseeing the tendering process.
While the initial plan was to cover 111 km of the city’s periphery in the first phase, the government later dropped the plan of including the Vandalur-Puzhal (54 km) corridor. This would have been the longest monorail corridor in the world had it been implemented along with the Vandalur-Velachery, Poonamallee-Kathipara and Poonamallee-Vadapalani sections.
Locations for stations have been identified for the project, keeping in mind their access to bus stops, MRTS and metro rail stations. Unlike in the metro rail project, the requirement of private land for mono rail is minimal. The government has formed a team to earmark lands for construction of the stations.
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