Rs. 250 crore has been allocated for which the work has started today. While the first phase of the work is in progress, 95 percent of the land has been acquired for Phase-II. Land acquisition is in progress for the third phase of works which will be completed in 24 months.
Coimbatore: Highways Minister E V Velu and Housing Board Minister Muthusamy inaugurated the 32km-long western bypass being constructed from Madukkarai Mailkal in Coimbatore to Narasimhanaickenpalayam.
Addressing the media after the inaugural ceremony, Minister E V Velu said,
"After the formation of the Dravidian model of Government in Tamil Nadu, projects are being implemented to give priority to Coimbatore. A length of 368 km of road is being developed by the Highways Department at a project cost of Rs. 770 crores.
As a part of this, 14 bridge works at a cost of Rs. 284 crore are in progress. In 2007, when Kalaignar was the Chief Minister, he sanctioned a ring road project for Coimbatore. The project was finalised in 2009. Thereafter, the project was shelved by a change of Government. When a majority of the industrialists here were called and a meeting was held, they were told to implement the western bypass work on priority.
Based on this, in order to ease the traffic congestion, the work on the western bypass restarted based also on it being a long pending demand of the people of Coimbatore. With this bypass, a majority of travellers from Kerala will be able to go to the Nilgiris without entering Coimbatore city. This will also reduce traffic congestion."
"We are going to take up the work of this bypass in three phases. In the first phase, the road from Madukkarai to Madampatti has been fully acquired and Rs. 250 crore has been allocated for which the work has started today. While the first phase of the work is in progress, 95 percent of the land has been acquired for Phase-II. Land acquisition is in progress for the third phase of works which will be completed in 24 months," explained Minister E V Velu.
He further added, "While the decision to construct flyovers at Saravanampatti, Saibaba Colony and Singanallur was taken, the metro rail project was announced. Priority has been given to the Singanallur and Saibaba Colony bridges and tendering is in progress. Due to unavoidable reasons, agricultural lands have been acquired in a few places for road works. The Semmozhi conference was held by Kalaignar in Coimbatore. We made several announcements for Coimbatore but it was the AIADMK that put everything on hold.
But now we are giving importance to the bridge work left behind by the AIADMK. We are taking steps to make Mettupalayam-Sakthi Road a 4-lane road. The DMK government has not neglected Coimbatore. I will bring it to the notice of the TN Chief Minister that the industrial city of Coimbatore has done no wrong. Steps are being taken to complete the Avinashi flyover works in a timely manner. Metro work is also progressing at a fast pace. The State Government will take steps to convert the road into a four-lane road once their contract period on L&T road is over."