In Chennai, the elevated road project from Maduravoyal to Chennai port is of great significance for the port in view of the development of a container terminal, the Chennai Port has told the Tamil Nadu High Court. The road project operator will be selected soon and the Letter of Approval is likely to be issued in the first quarter of the financial year, the port said.    

The road project would not only benefit the port but would also help vehicles use the corridor round the clock, the port said while countering a writ petition filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). NHAI was seeking the quashing of the records of the Chief Engineer, PWD, Water Resource Organisation, Chennai region, on January 28 this year and a direction to the authorities to coordinate and take all steps necessary to complete the elevated corridor within a planned time.    

The NHAI said in its submission to the cout that it was aggrieved because the Tamil Nadu Government was putting stumbling blocks in the implementation of the road project.    

Chennai Port also said that it had acquired 121.74 acres of land from SIPCOT at Mappedu, Sriperumbudur, for developing the Shri Rajiv Gandhi Dry Port and Multi-Modal Logistics Hub.    

This terminal will have a capacity of 1.66 million TEUs per annum. The Letter of Intent for this project is also likely to be issued within a couple of months. The viability of these projects depended on the commissioning of the elevated road project from the port to Maduravoyal.