Urban News

The Hindu       25.11.2010

Rs.4.38-crore inner-link road project takes off

— Photo:R. Ashok

crossing all hurdles: An earthmover at work as the Anna Nagar link road project work commenced in the city on Wednesday.

TIRUCHI: Work on building an inner-link road that would connect the Anna Nagar Main Road and Cantonment in the city commenced here on Wednesday, after several false starts over the past few years.

The project is estimated to cost about Rs.4.38 crore and a resolution approving the award of re-tenders for the project was finalised at the Corporation Council meeting on Monday.

The project is being taken up utilising a grant of Rs.1.20 crore from the Seed Capital Assistance Scheme of the Department of Town and Country Planning. The remaining portion of the project cost would come by way of loans and from the Corporation general funds.

The link road was originally proposed as part of the Karur Bypass Road, laid over a decade back. The new bridge across the Uyyakondan River, which runs across the city, would provide an alternative road link and help ease the congestion in Thillai Nagar and Woraiyur areas in the city. The Corporation had begun preliminary works by laying kutcha roads along the Uyyankondan River and the District Court complex building last year, but the work had come to a halt after some time.

The Corporation has obtained the ‘enter upon permission,' for the land belonging to District Court. The Corporation has also built a compound wall for the complex as part of a land transfer agreement. The civic body has also acquired some private lands for the project.

The new link road would be laid for about 685 metres at a cost of Rs.1.84 crore, while the bridge, running for a length of 35.60 metres and a width of 10.5 metres, would cost another Rs.1.79 crore. This apart, the project would entail construction of storm water drains on either sides along the new link road at an estimated cost of Rs.75 lakh.

While work on the bridge portion is expected to begin only after the irrigation season is over next year, work on laying the roads has been taken up now. On Wednesday, Mayor S.Sujatha; Corporation Commissioner T.T.Balsamy; Deputy Mayor M.Anbazhagan and officials inspected the site . The project is expected to be completed in about 18 months.

The Hindu        23.11.2010

Rs. 7.50 crore to concretise roads

VILLUPURAM: All the 103 roads lying within the Villupuram municipal limits will be transformed into concrete roads at a cost of Rs. 7.5 crore by January 2011, according to K. Ponmudy, Higher Education Minister.

The concretisation work would be taken up after the completion of the underground drainage work now being executed by the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board at a cost of Rs. 35.67 crore in the municipality.

The Minister told the presspersons that the underground drainage would pass through all the 103 roads and the TWAD Board had already given completion certificates on 10 of these roads to the civic body.

Cooperation sought

Mr. Ponmudy said that the road work would be undertaken without causing any inconvenience to the residents. However, the latter ought to cooperate with the officials by not driving any heavy vehicles, at least for two days, immediately after the roads were re-constructed.

Mr. Ponmudy further said that the municipal officials had been directed to ensure the quality of road construction. He, along with the District Collector R. Palanisamy, would carry out periodical inspection on the roads, he said.

Earlier, the Minister and the Collector went to various places such as Sankar Math Street, Poonthotta Paadhai, L.G.Puram Bhajanai Street, Old Ginjee Road and Pappan Kulam to assess the condition of the roads there.

Municipal Chairman R.Janakaraj, Municipal Commissioner P.Sivakumar and TWAD Board Executive Engineer N.Balakumar accompanied them.