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Amazing!! Latest on ECR in Chennai becoming a Four Lane Road from this point
Posted on: 25/Oct/2021 9:41:49 AM
Widening of ECR or East Coast Road stretch between Mamallapuram and Marakkanam into a 4-lane road has been proposed 3 years back itself!!
Till now, the road has not been handed over to NHAI or National Highways Authority of India for transferring this 61.4km ECR stretch into a 4-lane.
It must be noted that TNRDC (a separate venture under the state highways that developed ECR from Akkarai and Puducherry) has asked compensation from the TN government for settling the bank loans before transferring the road to NHAI. Point is that on 30th August 2021 4 toll gates of TNRDC on Rajiv Gandhi Salai and its link road were closed.
Now user fees are being collected by a toll plaza maintained by TNRDC at Anumandai on ECR near Marakkanam. It is now said that the transfer of toll gates to NHAI would result in revenue loss for TNRDC. This would in turn affect the TNRDC’s repayment of their pending dues to the banks.
There was no administrative issue in transferring ECR to NHAI and this was according to some officials of TNRDC. It is known that ECR that has 4-lanes from Thiruvanmiyur and Mamallapuram becomes 2 lanes beyond that. For better road connectivity to Puducherry, the Union government in 2018 proposed to widen the 107km stretch from Mamallapuram and Puducherry. In 2019, NHAI prepared a detailed project report or DPR and had invited bids for widening ECR to 4lanes in 2 phases. It is important to note that the width of existing ECR 7 to 14m was supposed to be widened to 60 to 70m.
