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After 3 years, nod for new National Highway in Tamil Nadu
The NHAI on Thursday issued a Letter of Award (LOA) for development of National Highways in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry under Bharatmala Pariyojana, formerly known as National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-I, under which NHAI will undertake road projects from Villupuram to Nagapattinam soon.
Chennai
The project was announced after a three-year gap and a data released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Tamil Nadu confirms this.
While no new National Highway projects have been announced between 2014 and 2017, work on national highway covering 1,034.5 km will commence in the state, for the period 2017-18. In contrast, national highway had taken up 3,900 km of roadwork between 2004 and 2014 in the state.
MG Devasagayam, an urban development expert and former civil servant said “NHAI projects are politically decided. There is no proper planning management before announcing projects. Road projects like Port-Maduravoyal, which was announced a decade ago, are yet to be completed.”
When contacted, a NHAI senior official said, “Many state highways are already converted into national highways, while some projects remain pending. In such a situation, the union ministry is keen to complete the existing projects in the next two years, after which the ministry may announce NH projects for the state.” When asked why there was no new project for last three years, the official replied that merely announcing continuous NH projects will not serve any purpose and they were given task to complete pending projects.
Speaking to DT Next, TR Baalu, former Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, said “When I was a minister, NHAI took up road works for around 6.5 km every day. However, things have changed as no officials from union road transport ministry showed interest in taking up even existing works and announcing new projects.” Southern parts of Tamil Nadu were still left in the lurch in terms of road infrastructure, he added.
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