Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to visit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Thursday. This will be his second visit to Tamil Nadu in less than two weeks, which is gearing for assembly elections.
The PM will dedicate to the nation and lay the foundation stone for multiple infrastructure projects worth over Rs 12,400 crore in Coimbatore, where BJP enjoys a good vote bank.
It may be noted, BJP joined hands with ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming election.
On February 14th, Modi visited Chennai personally and shared stage with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Paniswami to inaugurate various projects. Three days later from New Delhi, he dedicated two oil and gas projects to the nation and laid foundation stone of Rs 31,500 crore grassroot refinery to come up in Southern Tamil Nadu.
During his visit on Thursday, the PM will dedicate to the nation the Neyveli New Thermal Power Project. It is a lignite-based power plant designed for power generation capacity of 1000 MW, and has two units of 500 MW capacity each.
Built at a cost of about Rs 8,000 crore, the pit head power plant will utilise lignite as fuel from the existing mines of Neyveli, which have sufficient lignite reserves for meeting the lifetime requirement of the project.
The plant has been designed for 100% Ash utilisation. The power generated would benefit Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry, with Tamil Nadu having the major share of about 65%.
Modi will also dedicate to the nation the 709 MW Solar Power Project of NLCIL, established over an area of about 2670 acres of land across the districts of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Ramanathapuram and Virudhunagar. The project has been set up at a cost of over Rs 3,000 crore.
He will lay the foundation stone of the extension, renovation and modernisation of Lower Bhavani Project System. The Bhavanisagar dam and the canal systems were completed in the year 1955. The Lower Bhavani System comprises Lower Bhavani Project Canal System, Arakankottai & Thadapalli Channels, and Kalingarayan Channel.
It irrigates over 2 lakh acres of land in Erode, Tiruppur and Karur districts. The extension, renovation and modernisation of Lower Bhavani System has been taken up at a cost of Rs 934 crore under NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance. The main objective is to rehabilitate the existing irrigation structures in the system and increase the efficiency of the canals. Apart from lining of the canals, repair and reconstruction of 824 sluices, 176 drainages and 32 bridges will also be taken up.
Prime Minister will also inaugurate the 8-laning of Korampallam Bridge and Rail Over Bridge (ROB) at V.O.Chidambaranar Port at Thoothukudi.
It is one of the major ports in India. At present, 76% of the cargo is transported through road from/to the port using the existing Korampallam bridge, which was constructed in early 1964 with a 14 metre wide carriageway. An average of about 3000 heavy loaded cargo trucks move daily over this bridge, creating heavy congestion over the road and consequent delays and increase in turnaround time.
In order to provide seamless evacuation of cargo and to avoid traffic congestion in the port area, the project of 8-laning of the existing Korampallam bridge and Rail Over bridge has been implemented. It involves widening on either side of the bridge and adding two lanes (8.5 m) on either side, along with widening the existing bituminous road on either side from TTPS Circle to City Link Circle. Constructed at a cost of about Rs 42 crore, the project has been implemented with funding support under the Sagarmala programme.
Later in the afternoon he will be going to Puducherry, which saw a political turmoil after the Congress government fell early this week. Earlier, Tamilsai Soundararajan replaced Kiran Bedi as lieutenant governor (LG) of Puducherry with who was moved to the Union Territory from her position as Telangana governor earlier this week.
Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for 4 laning of NH45-A – 56 kms Sattanathapuram – Nagapattinam package of Villupuram to Nagapattinam project covering Karaikal District. The capital cost to be incurred in this project is about Rs 2426 crore. He will also lay the foundation stone of the Medical College Building at Karaikal New Campus- Phase I, Karaikal District (JIPMER). The estimated cost of the project is Rs 491 crore.
Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for development of Minor Port at Puducherry under Sagarmala Scheme. Estimated to be built at Rs 44 crore, it will provide connectivity to Chennai and facilitate cargo movement for industries in Puducherry.
He will also lay the foundation stone for various projects.
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