Work to widen the final 450- m stretch of the Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) inside the fishing harbour has begun after an inordinate delay.
The foundation stone for the ₹600-crore project to provide connectivity to ports in Ennore and Chennai by widening four roads in north Chennai was laid in 2011 and announced way back in 1998.
The Chennai port took some time to hand over the final stretch that passes through fish shops and fish drying areas as they had to provide alternative space for fishers. The fishing harbour is under the control of the port and Ennore Expressway provides final connectivity to the Chennai port via the the road running through the fishing harbour.
Sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which has widened the roads — Tiruvottiyur- Ponneri-Panchetty Road, Manali Oil Refinery Road, Ennore Expressway and the northern sector of the Inner Ring Road — said the work will take six months to complete. “We were waiting for the land to be handed over to us. The present road inside is very narrow and needs widening,” an official said.
Thousands of trailer trucks take these roads on a daily basis to reach the Chennai port. They line up on the roads, waiting for entry passes to the port due to lack of space inside. Meanwhile, amid protests by residents and truckers, tolling began on February 20 at the Mathur plaza. For cars/jeeps/vans, a toll of ₹35 would be collected for a single journey, ₹55 for light commercial vehicles, ₹115 for buses/trucks, ₹125 for vehicles with three axles, ₹180 for those with four to six axles, ₹180 for heavy construction machinery/earthmovers and ₹220 for vehicles with seven or more axles.
‘Violation of Act’
S. Ambigaidoss, an advocate from Tiruvottiyur, said that this was not classified as a national highway and therefore NHAI had no right to collect toll.
“The location of the plaza is also in violation of the NHAI Act since plazas can’t come up within 60 km of another toll plaza. There are three plazas at a distance of just 20 km,” he said.