Sivakasi
Land acquisition for Sivakasi Outer Ring Road project has at last gained some momentum.
The project that was announced in 2012 has been a non-starter as the land acquisition process was on a snail’s pace all these years.
“The project is all about laying a green field road for 33.5 km to decongest ever-busy vehicular traffic in Sivakasi,” said a Highways official.
The project envisaged laying of the Ring Road that would connect five roads leading to Virudhunagar, Sattur, Vembakottai, Erichanatham and Srivilliputtur without touching Sivakasi town.
“At present all vehicular traffic connecting Srivilliputtur and Virudhunagar has to pass through at least six km of congested roads in Sivakasi. It often takes at least 30 minutes to go through the town limits,” the official said.
Sivakasi being one of the fastest grown towns in southern districts, the official said adding that the Ring Road is a long felt need of Sivakasi.
The road with faster connectivity to five roads leading to different important towns in the district will help expedite the growth of the town.
A Revenue official said that 147 hectares of land required to be acquired for the project. This included over 132 ha of patta land and 14 ha of Government poramboke land.
“The first phase of land acquisition in five out of the total 10 revenue districts is on the verge of completion. We are hearing certain objections regarding the land value fixed and also regarding alternative land,” the official said.
Land acquisition is for 30-metres wide on which two-way road with shoulders would come up.
The official added that time schedule had been laid for land acquisition.