CHENNAI: A grant of Rs. 220.5 crore has been received by the fund-starved Chennai Corporation under the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Fund (TURIF) for the laying of 2,834 bus route roads, interior roads and pavements in the 15 zones.

Officials said the identification of roads needing attention will be
finalised at the head office with zonal level officers taking charge of
the execution of the work.

With the grant having come in, preliminary work to call for tenders to
lay roads has gathered steam in all the zones. However, officials said
the tenders raised will focus on laying of roads, not on maintenance of
damaged roads. “A proposal on the roads needing attention was sent after
an inspection by zonal officials but there is no mention of maintenance
contracts for damaged roads,” said an official.

The challenge before the civic body remains to prioritise stretches
and identify the right contractors to develop, relay and maintain
roads. Residents in several areas have complained of roads remaining
neglected for a long time.

“In three wards around my area, a number of roads have remained in a
bad shape over the year with the corporation not taking up work citing
the frequent road cuts for laying of Metrowater pipelines. That is taken as an excuse and the roads were never repaired,” said G Satish, a resident of OMR.

In some areas of Manapakkam, resident associations have waited for
more than a year for corporation officials to take note of damaged
roads. “I recently filed a complaint with the corporation website and
the response to the complaint was quick. I hope the road will also be
fixed in the same time they took to respond,” said V Nagarajan.
Residents also raised the issue of relaying of roads without milling the
existing roads, which leads to a rise in their height by several inches
over the years.

A senior corporation official said the list of roads is submitted by
the zone-level field staff. “Tenders will be floated for the final list.
Usually, the contract includes maintenance spans as well, depending on
the type of roads,” he added.