CHENNAI: Construction work to complete the `495-crore Phase II extension of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) between Velachery and St Thomas Mount will commence next month.
A Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) official told Express that work would resume after the beneficiaries who had approached the High Court against the acquisition of 500 metres of land were compensated.
Twenty eight beneficiaries have been identified and they will be reimbursed under the Union government’s new Land Acquisition Act, which came into being this year.
The official added that the earlier compensation was based on an old Act. Now the compensation is being reviewed under the new Act which replaced the 119-year-old obsolete legislation.
The official refused to provide any details on what the total reworked compensation would be. “It is being worked out,” he said.
The proposed alignment and extension of Phase-II took place in 2008. As of now 3.7 km of the 5-km stretch of the MRTS line has been completed.
The project envisages the development of the elevated MRTS on single pillars along the median of the Inner Ring Road (IRR) from MBL Road to St Thomas Mount for a distance of about 5 km.
The State government is bearing 33 per cent of the cost while 67 per cent is being borne by the Union government. The project envisions the construction of two intermediate stations, Puzhuthivakkam and Adambakkam.