Tamil Nadu to be the automobile manufacturing hub of India, new expressways to make travel quicker

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday (16 February) , said that the Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Expressway project is being redesigned by Larsen & Toubro and it will likely have two flyovers and the new design is expected to be ready in a month, reports TheNewIndianExpress.

“I held discussion with the consultants. As far as the traffic snarls and pollution are concerned, we will find solutions to them,” he added.

Even during the pandemic, the Central government has gone full speed ahead with infrastructure projects. Minister Gadkari said that the government planned three green expressways. The 250-km Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway is divided into 10 packages.

According to the Minister bids have been received for eight and the estimated cost of this project is about ₹15,000 crore.

“The travel time between Chennai and Bengaluru would be reduced to two-and-half hours with all the safety features once the expressway is ready,” he said.

The second one is the 277-km Chennai-Salem Expressway which will be constructed at a cost of ₹7,500 crore. “NHAI is in the process of seeking environmental clearance and after that land acquisition will be initiated,” said Gadkari.

The third expressway is a newly declared National Highway Chittoor-Thatcher Road named NH 716B (160km). “It will facilitate access to the city and decongest Chennai roads. This will also pass through industrially developed areas and will cost ₹4,000 crore,” the minister said.

Gadkari told the press that as many as 23 projects for 1,100 km at the cost of ₹23,000 crore are under progress.

“We want to make India the number one automobile manufacturing hub in the world. This is where the role of Tamil Nadu is very important. I suggest the State government to establish scrapping clusters, preferably near to the port, in future, so that it can create more employment potential,” he said.

On the importance of the FASTag system, Gadkari said, “We are going to incorporate GPS-based technology. In Tamil Nadu, installation of this technology is being done on an experimental basis in certain places.”

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