Ennore-Manali Road to be ready by June '13

The much-awaited Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) is expected to be completed by June 2013. The project, which was originally conceived in 1998 at an estimated cost of around Rs 100 crore, has been facing delay for various reasons including rehabilitation, allotment of funds and others. The delay in the project has pushed the project to around Rs 600 crore.

Speaking to reporters after handing over a cheque for Rs 50.50 crore to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan said that till now 32 per cent of the project has been completed. Land acquisition, for rehabilitation of fishermen, has been completed and fishing stalls were provided to them, he said.

The Rs 50.50 crore, includes Chennai Port Trust’s share of Rs 43.5 crore and balance is of Ennore Port’s.

Both are equity shareholders in a special purpose vehicle (SPV), set up to develop the project. The others in the SPV include NHAI and Tamil Nadu government.

The project was conceived in 1998 at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore. The project envisages improvement of 30 kms of road network in north Chennai which connects all the container freight station (CFS) which handles containers for Chennai port.

The project is vital not only for the future development of both Chennai and Ennore ports, but also for the Katupalli port, located beside Ennore port, which is being built by Larsen & Toubro.

The project has been one of the dream projects for the trade. The delay in the project was resulting Rs 75 lakh loss for various logistics operators every day.

“If the road would have properly laid the trade could have generated Rs 30,000 crore business in the last five years,” said an industry expert.