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N. Ramakrishnan

An artist's concept of the IT corridor in Chennai

Chennai , Feb. 23

WORK on improving the Information Technology Corridor - a 20-km stretch of the Old Mahabalipuram Road - is all set to begin. Facilitating this is what is being described as a path-breaking agreement called a Partnership and Development Agreement signed on Wednesday by the Tamil Nadu Government and IT Expressway Ltd, the company that will execute the work.

IT Expressway Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Ltd, that has been specially formed for this project will award the contract to improve the road within a fortnight, according to reliable sources.

Rather than go for a regular concession agreement that is the practice for such projects, the Government and IT Expressway Ltd have decided to go in for a Partnership and Development Agreement so that there will not be any dividend pay-out on the money that is being pumped in as equity. Instead, surplus funds generated by the project will be ploughed back and invested on the IT Corridor or in improving the road up to Mahabalipuram, which is to be taken up in the next stage, or in any other road project in the State.

The civil works on the project alone will cost Rs 130 crore, of which the State Government has given Rs 34 crore to IT Expressway Ltd as capital support and the company will borrow the balance Rs 96 crore from banks and institutions. It is in talks with some banks and institutions such as Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, UTI Bank and Housing and Urban Development Corporation. The debt will be repaid by collecting toll from motorists, excluding those who are living on that stretch.

The Government is also expected to spend at least another Rs 50 crore on land acquisition. It has also sanctioned about Rs 10 crore for resettlement and rehabilitation.

In the first phase, IT Expressway Ltd (ITEL) will widen and improve the 20-km stretch of road from Madhya Kailash junction to Siruseri, along which are located a number of information technology companies lending it the name IT Corridor, to a three-lane carriageway on either side, a median, a service road and a separate road for cycles and other non-motor vehicles. Separate bus bays will be provided at 24 points on both sides and ducts laid for carrying all cables. Crossover ducts will be provided every 500 metres. The agreement ensures that no agency will dig up the road for 30 years, the period for which the agreement will be valid, according to the sources. Those connected with the project say that all the trees along the stretch will be transplanted.

Besides this stretch, ITEL will also improve the 2-km stretch connecting Old Mahabalipuram Road with East Coast Road, from Sholinganallur to Kudimiyandithoppu.

The second phase of the project involves improving the 25-km stretch of Old Mahabalipuram Road from Siruseri to Mahabalipuram. At least 80,000 vehicles enter Old Mahabalipuram Road every day at the Madhya Kailash junction at present.

A large number of them are for the various information technology and business process outsourcing companies that are located on the corridor. Some of them include Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Polaris, Cognizant and Xansa.

ITEL has identified six places along the main road itself to relocate the existing shops and markets that need to be demolished to improve the road.

The company has proposed to the District Collectorate that fruit bearing trees be given to residents in some villages so that their income goes up. It will pay owners of those structures that need to be pulled down at replacement value rather than the depreciated value of the building or structure, which is the norm for resettlement and rehabilitation. According to reliable sources, after an elaborate tendering process, eight companies have submitted financial bids for improving the road. These include Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Gammon India Ltd, Ashoka Buildcon and Ahmed Zaki Resources Berhad of Malaysia. The work will begin in March and completed in 12 months.

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