CHENNAI: Three months after handing over Mamallapuram-Puducherry section of the East Coast Road (ECR) to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for four-laning work, the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC) on Tuesday suspended toll fee collection at four booths—Anumanthai and Vengambakkam on ECR, and Mamallapuram-Thirukazhukundram road, and Poojeri on Old Mahabalipuram Road or Rajiv Gandhi Salai.
Official sources of the TNRDC, which collects toll fee and maintains the roads, said the booths were closed as the road is being widened. The average toll collection at the four booths is Rs 8 to Rs 9 lakh a day. The ECR road handles 60,000 to 75,000 vehicles a day. Motorists can save Rs 140 to Rs 250 per trip for travelling between Chennai and Puducherry.
The TNRDC had sought Rs 222-crore compensation for transferring the ECR stretch to the NHAI to settle its bank debts. After the Union government refused to pay the money, the State government agreed to bear 50% of TNRDC’s debts, officials said.
The TNRDC has already closed four toll plazas on Rajiv Gandhi Salai and its arterial roads on August 29 last year. With the closure of four more toll gates on ECR and OMR, the TNRDC has to now maintain the roads using the fee collected from two plazas at Uthandi on ECR and Siruseri on OMR.
The two-lane stretch of 106.4 km-long Mamallapuram-Puducherry NH 332A on ECR is proposed to be widened into four-lane in three packages—Mamallapuram-Mugaiyur (31km), Mugaiyur-Marakkanam (30.4km) and Marakkanam-Puducherry (45km)—at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I (Feeder Routes).
As per official documents, the NHAI is planning to set up a new toll gate at the entrance of Mamallapuram on ECR. Following the State government’s NOC in April, the NHAI commenced civil works on Mamallapuram-Mugaiyur section of the ECR. As part of package I, 14 vehicular underpasses and bridges are proposed to be built at Mamallapuram, Pooncheri, Pooncheri-Chengalpattu road, Manamai, Kanathur, Kalpakkam, Meiyur, Kadalur and Koovathur villages.
Three bypasses for 12.7km at Vengambakkam (3.32km), Meiyur (4.38km), and Gundumanicherry-Koovathur (5km) will also be constructed. “Culverts are being constructed and earthen banking is being built on ECR. The project widening work is in full swing,” an official said.