The Tamil Nadu Government is confident of landing Japanese funding for the Rs 1,100-crore Phase-II of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project, which connects Nemilicherry to Minjur – a distance of 32 km.

The Government has approached the Japan International Co-operation Agency to fund the project. “However, we are also exploring other possibilities such as public-private partnership route to execute the project,” said a highly placed source in the department.

The design process is underway and land acquisition is “almost over”, and the project is expected to take off by the last quarter of the current financial year, the source said.

The ORR project, expected to reduce traffic congestion in the City, will cover a total distance of 62 km from Vandalur to Minjur, with Nemilicherry right in the middle. The entire stretch will have 6 lanes and a 22-meter ‘public transport corridor' in the middle, for future use. The Ring Road, beginning at NH 45 (Grand Southern Trunk Road) at Vandalur, intersects three National Highways at various points – NH 4 (Chennai-Bangalore) at Nazarathpet, NH 205 (Chennai-Renigunta) at Nemilicherry, and NH 5 (Chennai-Kolkata) near Ponneri. At all these junctions there will be grade separators to ensure easy flow of traffic.

First phase

The Rs 1,081-crore first phase of this project covering a distance of 30 km from Vandalur to Nemilicherry, which is underway and expected to get over by October 2012, is being done by GMR through a special purpose vehicle GMR Chennai Outer Ring Road Ltd on ‘Design, Fund, Build, Operate and Transfer' basis. GMR will operate the road for 20 years (including the construction period of two and half years) before transferring it to the Government. During this period the Government will pay the company ‘gap funding' by way of annuity.

According to goods transport operators, currently over 1,500 trucks ply to Ennore over the Maduravoyal - Redhills stretch and it takes not less than two hours and thirty minutes. “The proposed Outer Ring Road would enable trucks to reach the port in just an hour and half. This will enable a number of truck operators to ply at least more than once a day, besides resulting in considerable savings on fuel bills.

Overall, the proposed Outer Ring Road will result in at least 50 per cent more operational efficiency,” says Mr P.V. Subramani, President, Chennai Goods Transport Association.

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