CHENNAI: Land acquisition for the six-laning of the 10.3-km stretch of the East Coast Road from Thiruvanmiyur to Akkarai, a busy stretch in Chennai, has been dragging on for over a decade, pushing the land acquisition cost three-fold in 11 years.
The cost of acquisition which went up from Rs 356 crore in 2012 to Rs 756 crore in 2019, escalated to Rs 940 crore as of February last year, sources said. This is one of Chennai’s most expensive road projects, with a budget of Rs 1,090 crore allocated for building just one lane on either side, along with stormwater drains. Of the total project cost, Rs 159 crore was earmarked for civil work.
Multiple sources from government agencies told TNIE that since the project’s commencement in 2013, the land acquisition process has encountered numerous issues. These include legal challenges, demands for higher compensation for both private and natham land parcels, opposition from influential property owners in acquiring Open Space Reservation (OSR) lands from layouts, difficulties in transferring land parcels from government agencies, erroneous payment to landowners and alignment changes for stormwater drains.
While land acquisition poses a significant challenge for several infrastructure projects in the state — including construction of railway tracks and others — the ECR project has a dubious distinction. Not only there are issues in getting private land, but acquiring public and government land parcels, too, remains problematic. According to sources, shifting of various government offices and utilities set up on the road was delayed due to difficulties in finding suitable alternative sites to relocate them.
Officials say most land issues already resolved
A few locals in Thiruvanmiyur allege that traders associated with political parties have been resisting land acquisition for several years. “In a few places, stormwater drain alignment has been altered to benefit commercial establishments,” said a resident.
Sources said during a survey last year, two land parcels of 4,000 sq ft and 10,000 sq ft, earmarked for public use in revenue records, were discovered in Akkarai. These land parcels, worth crores, could not be retrieved by government.
Similarly, several crores were mistakenly deposited into builders’ accounts for land acquisition instead of being paid to apartment owners. The funds were eventually recovered following police complaints and deposited into the apartment owners’ accounts, though after inordinate delays.
There were also delays in shifting of facilities such as underground drain pipelines, electrical cables and transformers by government agencies, an official said.
Highways officials, however, claimed that most land acquisition issues have been resolved, and acquisition for the final stretch from Thiruvanmiyur to Kottivakkam is under way.
An official said, “Except for land parcels involved in cases, the others have been acquired. If the excess land parcels in Akkarai and other areas are confirmed to be public land, they may be utilised for ongoing government projects on ECR.”