Title - Land acquisition for city’s key projects likely to see end soon

Land acquisition for the Puzhuthivakkam MRTS station has reached the final stages with an “award passed for acquisition of 8,462 sq. m. of land.”The information was shared with officials of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (Cumta), the Chennai Corporation and other agencies at a meeting organised at the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) on Wednesday.With Cumta stressing the need for a well chalked-out strategy to speed up traffic and transportation projects, the CMDA is planning to take measures to cope with legal proceedings and quicken land acquisition.The legal proceedings have delayed the acquisition and alienation of over 6,550 sq. m. along the stand-alone rail alignment and 3,038 sq. m. near the Adambakkam Station. This is expected to delay the commissioning of a major transit hub in St. Thomas Mount.The work on the incomplete portions of the 5-km stretch between Velachery and St. Thomas Mount is not expected to resume as planned earlier. Though land acquisition resumed last year, residents continued to protest because of the change in the original alignment. The CMDA will be able to hand over the land to the Railways only after the land acquisition is completed and the award is passed.

Land acquisition for the proposed logistics park to be set up in 117.25 acres of land in Karunakaracheri and Annambedu and the second phase of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) also figured prominently in the discussions on Wednesday. Land acquisition is expected to begin once the State government sanction is received.

“Only 19 hectares of land remains to be acquired for the second phase of the ORR. The remaining land has been acquired,” said an official associated with land acquisition.

The second phase of the ORR, which starts at Nemilicheri, crosses the Chennai-Bangalore railway line and the Chennai Tiruvallur High Road. The road passes through villages, including Mittanamallee, Morai, Attanthangal, Padiyanallur, Kandigai. The work will gain momentum after the CMDA hands over the 19 hectares to TNRDC. The ORR will connect Vandalur on NH45 in the south with Minjur on the Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti Road north of Chennai.

Cumta will come up with more proposals including para-transit (feeder services between different transport networks), Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and common ticketing if land acquisition hurdles to key traffic and transportation projects are cleared.