Thatchur-Punnapakkam stretch to get 6-lane road

The 133.381-km-long peripheral road would run through Singaperumalkoil, Sriperumbudur, Tiruvallur, Thamaraipakkam, Periyapalayam, Puduvoyal and Kattupalli linking important national highways at a cost of Rs 12,301 crore to provide efficient commercial transportation and port connectivity.

According to the bid document, the 26.25-km-long new six-lane road from Thatchur would connect Punnapakkam near Thiruvallur Bypass with two-lane service road on both sides. “We have completed the land acquisition for the stretch. It will be an entirely new corridor which would reduce the travel time further,” sources said adding as part of the project, the contractor would build major and minor bridges, installation of road safety devices, solar-powered street lights and high mast lights, construction of bus and truck bays, bus shelters and roadside amenities.

The construction of the new six-lane road would result in the felling of 2,351 trees. As many as, 11 temples, three churches, two burial grounds and one school would also be affected by the alignment of the Thatchur-Punnapakkam stretch.

The CPRR project will be executed in five sections. Sources said the land acquisition works are in progress to acquire 245 hectares at a cost of Rs 951 crore in Section I connecting Ennore Port to Thatchur which was entrusted to Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation. The work on Section I is funded by JICA for Rs 2,473 crore.

The rest of the project would be executed by Tamil Nadu Road Infrastructure and Development Corporation (TNRIDC) with the work on Section IV which involved widening is already completed. “In Sections II, III and V of the peripheral road project, the administrative sanction has been accorded for land acquisition of 558 hectares at a cost of Rs 2,603 crore and the process of land acquisition has been taken up by the TNRIDC,” sources said.