After years of riding through unpaved roads in the wards that were annexed to Madurai Corporation in 2011, road users can finally heave a sigh of relief as the Corporation will lay new roads in the added wards present in the southern part of the city.
For this, the civic body has recently received administrative sanction and has been allocated ₹15 crore under the Integrated Urban Development Mission.
The project will be carried out in four packages and new roads will be laid for around 26 kilometres in the added wards present in the southern part of the city.
City Engineer S. Arasu said that the tender process for the project is currently under way. “We have proposed laying new roads only in the added wards of the southern city, as underground drainage system is currently being constructed in the added wards of the northern city under the Smart Cities Mission,” he said.
A Corporation official said that most of the roads included in the project are small streets in residential areas. The streets are mainly covered in wards like Iravathanallur, Chinna Anuppanadi, Avaniapuram, Villapuram, Pampan Swamy Nagar and Tirupparankundram.
Vedamani, a resident of Sonaiya Nagar East 4th Street which has been selected under the project, said that the streets in the ward have remained damaged for nearly a decade. “The streets are pothole-ridden and become slushy after a brief rainfall. Rainwater often stagnates, worsening the mosquito menace in the area,” he said.
The civic body must ensure that durable roads were laid, he added.