The Hindu Business Line : NHAI invites bids for major projects

THE National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to reduce bottlenecks at five major locations on the national highway network leading to Chennai, and has invited bids from contractors for pre-qualifying.

The total value of the contract is estimated at Rs 210 crore and the work is to be completed within two years after the contract is awarded.

Two of the projects are on GST Road or National Highway 45, which leads to the southern part of Tamil Nadu, at Kathipara junction - a major traffic intersection at the end of the city limits, on the way to the airport.

Another project will be at the airport itself, where the authority wants to provide easy to-and-froaccess . Currently, vehicles from the city to the airport have to turn right on NH-45.

The proposed entry and exit to the airport will be an elevated structure. This project has been talked about for quite some time but nothing concrete had emerged till now. However, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Mr T.R. Baalu, has taken personal interest in the five projects - especially the elevated entry to the airport and the grade separator at the Kathipara junction.

The Minister held several rounds of discussions with the authorities concerned with road development in the State to find solutions to these bottlenecks.

The Tamil Nadu Government has also been repeatedly asking the Centre to remove these bottlenecks as early as possible.

The Kathipara junction is a particularly busy intersection as three major roads meet at this point. The vehicle traffic at this junction increased after the mofussil bus terminus started functioning at Koyambedu and long distances buses were diverted at the Kathipara junction via the Inner Ring Road to the mofussil bus terminus. Urban planners have stressed the need for a multi-tiered flyover at Kathipara.

The NHAI's tender to pre-qualify contractors is for five projects - a grade separator at the Kathipara junction, an elevated entry and exit from NH-45 (Chennai-Dindigul highway) to the airport, a grade separator at the Koyambedu intersection on NH-4 (Chennai-Bangalore highway), a grade separator including a bridge at the junction of NH-205 (Chennai-Anantapur highway) with the Chennai city Inner Ring Road (at Padi junction) and widening a stretch of NH-4.

The proposed improvement on NH-205 is at the Padi junction, which is highly congested. The road branches off leading to several industrial units, including companies from the TVS group such as Wheels India, Sundaram Brake Linings, Sundram Fasteners and Sundaram-Clayton.