Here’s some good news for people in Tamil Nadu. Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan on Wednesday said that the Centre is planning to lay a four-lane National Highway converting the East Coast Road (ECR) between Kanyakumari and Chennai with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore.

Laying the foundation of the approaches to a road-over bridge in neighbouring Villianoor, the Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Pon Radhakrishnan said that the proposal to convert the ECR was aimed at decongesting traffic.

Puducherry, through which the ECR passes, would also stand to benefit by this conversion as flow of tourists and pilgrims on this segment would increase, he said.

The Minister said there was also a proposal to introduce inland water ways between Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry. He inaugurated a major bridge constructed at a cost of Rs 12.84 crores in Karaikal.

In March 2015, the Union Government had expressed its interest to upgrade the East Coast Road connecting Chennai and Kanyakumari as a National Highway.

Pon Radhakrishnan had then said nearly 600 km of the stretch which was with Tamil Nadu could be converted to a National Highway if the State submitted the necessary proposals. Only 153 km out of 738.4 km was under the National Highway Authority and the remaining was with the State Government.

Last year, the Central government had also approved Rs 400 crore for new projects for widening and improving 430 km of national highways. 

With PTI inputs