The New Indian Express                    02.04.2013

Jaya announces Rs 1,733 crore plan to improve roads

 

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. 

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday announced several measures to improve road infrastructure in the State to be implemented at a cost of Rs 1,733 crore. The projects included 131 river bridges to be constructed at a cost of `300 crore on panchayat union roads and 67 government roads for a stretch of 215 km to be laid at an expenditure of `100 crore.

The Chief Minister said, as per the request from the National Highways Authority of India, 22 km of road between Tirunindravur and Padi was handed over to it in 2005. Since there was no possibility for collecting toll in the stretch of road, it was not taken up for development under the National Highways Development Project. Considering the highly ruined state of this road at present, in an area where vehicular traffic is high, it would be taken up for improvement as an urban road and would be developed as a six-lane road at a cost of `168 crore. In the first phase, the stretch of road would be developed as a four-lane road at an expenditure of `98 crore.

Through the SIPCOT, land at Mappedu in Tiruvallur district has been given on lease for `126 crore to Chennai port for establishing a dry harbour. To facilitate easy flow of trucks, a link road from the dry harbour to NH-4 would be laid. For this purpose, the 39.40 km Padi Road near the Thandalam-Perambakkam-Thakkolam Road would be upgraded as a four-lane road.

The second phase of Thanjavur by-pass road would be taken up for implementation on Perambalur-Manamadurai highway till Manakkarambai for a stretch of 14.27 km from new Collectorate complex in Thanjavur on Nagapattinam-Gudalur-Mysore national highway, at a cost of `98 crore.

The Chief Minister also announced that Pochampalli-Kodamandapatti Road would laid at a cost of `8.68 crore to connect the SIPCOT complex in Bargur, in Krishnagiri district, with the nearby national highways. This would be useful for bringing in raw materials required for the industries in the SIPCOT complex and to transport manufactured goods to other parts of the country.

The road would be laid at a cost of `8.68 crore. Besides, a new road would laid to connect the SIPCOT complex from Pochampalli-Kodamandapatti Road at a cost of `3.22 crore.

The Hindu                         02.04.2013

Erode Corporation to go in for energy-efficient street lighting

Staff Reporter

To be implemented on a public-private partnership mode.

The Erode Corporation will soon replace conventional fluorescent lamps with energy-efficient LED lamps for street lighting in the district. According to sources, the process of selecting the contractor is nearing completion.

The civic body has come up with the plan as its electricity expenditure particularly for street lighting continues to grow. It maintains more than 18,500 street lights and pays over Rs.3.5 crore as electricity charges for street lighting to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation every year. Besides, the civic body spends over Rs. 1.5 crore towards the maintenance of the street lights. The expenditure will grow further as the civic body has planned to install more street lights in the newly added areas – four municipalities, two town panchayats and five village panchayats. “When we complete the installation of street lights in the added areas, it will increase our total electricity bill by at least 15 to 20 per cent,” a senior official here said.

The implementation of the energy conservation plan would help civic body reduce the electricity consumption for street lighting by at least 30 to 35 percent.

According to the plan, the conventional fluorescent lamps on the streets will be replaced with energy-efficient LED lamps. It also envisages the installation of illumination control devices, voltage regulators and other tools across the town to save the energy. The street light maintenance expenditure will also come down significantly following the execution of the plan, civic officials said.

The civic body has earmarked a little over Rs. 18 crore for the implementation of the plan on a public-private partnership mode.

“We are now scrutinising the tenders from various firms. The implementation will begin soon,” a senior official says.

The civic administration is also preparing a proposal to install solar power generation equipment in its offices as a part of its energy conservation plan. “The long hours of power outage adversely affects the administration activities. If we have an alternative power source, it will improve the efficiency,” a civic official said.

The proposal would be submitted to the government shortly for approval.