CHENNAI: A key choke point threatens to negate the impact of Chennai’s most ambitious port connectivity project before it is even operational. More than two years after seeking land for a truck holding yard at Adayalampattu, near Maduravoyal junction, the Chennai Port Authority is still awaiting action from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to clear encroachments on the identified site. The yard is critical for regulating freight flow onto the upcoming Chennai Port-Maduravoyal elevated corridor.
The delay will have direct operational implications. The 20.6-km, four-lane, double-decker corridor is designed to divert bulk and break-bulk truck traffic away from the congested Madhavaram-Mathur-Manali stretch and funnel it through a dedicated elevated route towards the port’s Gate 10.
Without a staging area at the entry point, officials warn that trucks could end up queuing on the Poonamallee-Maduravoyal stretch, or worse, backing up on the elevated carriageway itself while awaiting port clearances.
“There has been no action,” a port official said, referring to repeated requests to clear encroachments on NHAI land earmarked for the facility.
The proposed yard is intended to function as an “extended gate”, allowing documentation, security checks and cargo processing to be completed before trucks enter the corridor.
By shifting the procedures upstream, the port aims to prevent roadside parking, reduce idle time and avoid congestion spilling onto both city roads and the elevated structure-where stationary heavy vehicles could pose safety and load risks.
The proposal has been in motion since May 2024, when the port sought around 10 acres for the project at a network planning group meeting. Subsequent joint inspections by port and NHAI officials identified two adjoining plots, measuring roughly 8.5 and 3.5 acres, as suitable.
But encroachments covering a substantial portion of the land have stalled progress, with the port now seeking NHAI’s intervention to enable eviction and handover, sources said.
A senior NHAI official said the delay stems from pending legal cases and compensation payments required to clear encroachments on the identified land parcel.
“The Rs 50 crore land acquisition package was approved in 2018 and later revised upwards by Rs 10 crore, but the compensation is yet to be disbursed as we have yet to identify the landowners due to litigation issues,” the official told TNIE.
“We are waiting for the elections to conclude, after which state authorities will be engaged to carry out eviction. There are also some technical issues, and the land is likely to be made available on a temporary basis,” the official added.
The Adayalampattu node is part of a wider plan to create multiple logistics buffers around the port, including a second extended gate proposed near the Madras Fertilizer Limited junction on Tamil Nadu Minerals (TAMIN) land. These facilities are expected to integrate with Chennai’s broader city logistics plan and support future extensions of the corridor towards Sriperumbudur, a key industrial hub.
Until the land is cleared, the project aimed at unclogging cargo movement risks replicating the very bottlenecks it was meant to eliminate.