Consultants to oversee 6-laning of Chittoor-Thatchur highway

NHAI has planned to take up construction of the 126 km long six-lane project under four packages through hybrid annuity mode. “We are going to appoint two consultants to provide independent services for the 61.38 km stretch from Varadharajula at Chittoor to Veera Kaveri Raja Puram near Tirutani and 54 km stretch from Veera Kaveri Raja Puram to Kannigaipair,” NHAI sources said. 

NHAI official said the independent engineers would help ensure adherence to the highest quality standards during the project’s construction and timely completion of the works to avoid cost overrun. “We have already opened the bids for the construction of the highways and work is in progress to award contracts under the four packages. Work will commence this fiscal itself,” he said. 

The six-lane road with a 70-meter carriageway would be designed for speeds of up to 100 km per hour and would run via 75 km of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh and 41 km of Tiruvallur district covering Pallipattu and Uthukottai taluks in Tamil Nadu. It will begin at 152 km-point of the proposed Bangalore-Chennai Expressway and end at Thatchur near Panapakkam on the Tirupati Road. The highway also provides an alternative route to Bengaluru via Tirutani and Chittoor avoiding the congested Maduravoyal-Sriperumbudur stretch.