In a series of tweets, Gadkari said his ministry was working to provide seamless multimodal connectivity in new India and the Chennai Port - Maduravoyal corridor was part of that initiative.
The minister said the proposed elevated stretch will be developed in four sections and will start inside the Chennai Port and end after the Maduravoyal interchange.
Gadkari said the project will be completed by December 2024 and it will serve as a dedicated freight corridor for Chennai bound port traffic and increase the handling capacity of Chennai Port by 48% and subsequently reduce the waiting time at the port by six hours.
Tenders for the construction of a two-tier, four-lane elevated corridor from Port to Maduravoyal under Prime Minister Gati Shakti programme have already been called. Of the 20.6 km, the 12-km corridor will be a double-decked corridor. While the project would take 24 months to 36 months to complete, it is being fast tracked for December 2024 deadline.
The prime delay in the project conceived in early 2000 was due to problems in getting the land belonging to the Indian Navy for the project. It is expected that this problem is now getting resolved with NHAI building separate quarters for them on the army land.
