The Tamil Nadu government, on Monday, May 16, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Chennai Port Trust, and the Indian Navy for building a double-tiered elevated expressway connecting the Chennai Port and Maduravoyal. The two-tiered expressway was initially proposed in 2008, during the last regime of DMK and was later stopped in 2011 during AIADMK rule citing environmental clearance issues.

The proposed 20.56 km elevated expressway would be built at an outlay of Rs 5,855 crore, the MoU for which was signed in the state secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin. As per plans, local vehicles will ply between Chennai Port and Koyambedu in the first tier and in the second tier, heavy vehicles will ply between Chennai Port and Maduravoyal.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009 and the outlay was pegged at about Rs 1,655 crore. At the time when the project was initiated, the United Progressive Alliance-led (UPA) government was in power, of which DMK was also a part. However, when the AIADMK under J Jayalalithaa came to power in the state, the project was stopped on environmental grounds. The state PWD had issued a notice in February 2012 to the NHAI to stop work citing environmental issues.

According to reports, environmental clearance was given to the project in February 2011. It was stopped in 2012 after the state government’s order citing realignment issues. Further, the NHAI terminated the agreement with the contractor in 2018.

(With IANS inputs)