Kolathur-ICF ROB on track; completion likely by March 2022
CHENNAI: The Road Over Bridge (ROB) connecting Kolathur main road and the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) road may be completed by March 2022. The Railways had agreed to lease out 1,200 sq.m. belonging to the ICF to the Corporation for a period of 35 years. For this, (along with a peripheral road and other features) the city corporation had paid `15.3 crores in May 2020.
“In the Kolathur side, there is some land acquisition to be done. There are four families with patta lands and 3,000 sq.m. of encroached land where small buildings have come up, that are to be looked into,” said a corporation official. “If this is completed by June-July, we may finish the project by March 2022,” the official added.
Although the project was carried on at a slower pace in the last one year due to the pandemic, work was never completely stalled, said officials. During this time, around 34 families were relocated to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board in Athipattu, with the city corporation paying the TNSCB `23 lakh for the housing costs.
The ROB, that is to connect Kolathur main road and E Seeyalam street near the ICF, will have a total length of 477 m. The railways, which will carry out the portion of work across the tracks, will work on a 82 m stretch, while the Corporation will lay approaches in the remaining 395 m stretch- 204 m on the ICF side and 191 m on the Kolathur side , according to corporation sources.
The project had been in the pipeline for several years and had been proposed to avoid congestion at the level crossing LC-1. It is expected to serve residents and commuters from Villivakkam, Anna Nagar, Kolathur, Korattur, and Perambur areas.