Terms governing Completion of work and Collection of tolls in IT Corridor, chennai
The IT Corridor road project in chennai was announced in 2004. The first phase of 3 km was to be completed in 2007. The entire project length is 20 km. IT includes 6-laning of the road and provisioning of service lanes on either sides of the road. The road was promised to be a ‘world class’ road termed ‘IT expressway’. The project was taken by TNRDC.
Eight years down the lane, the road is still incomplete due to a variety of reasons. The central 6 lanes have been laid. Apart from that,
- The service lanes are still under progress with most places dug up
- There are no dedicated bus stops with ppl occupying almost half the main road, waiting for buses
- No regularization of share autos, autos, share vans. they just park wherever, blocking the traffic
- No proper pedestrian crossings. People just dart across the roads
- Multiple signals through the stretch leading to traffic pile ups
On top of this, the last lane on either side of the road, is filled with uncleared mud, construction debris and parked vehicles rendering them unusable.
This is a normal city road, that too totally incomplete. Work is progressing at snail’s pace with just a couple of workers working here and there.
But this road is TOLLED for the past 2 years, in fact starting at a time when even the main carriageways were fully not done. Tolls have also been increased twice since its introduction.
So, these are the questions for which I’m seeking information:
- Are there any pre-conditions to be fulfilled before they can start tolling?
- Did the contractor who was awarded this road project fulfil those conditions?
- Who gave the clearance to start tolling when the road clearly is not complete in any sense?
- Isn’t there any punishment clause for not completing the works on time? If yes, was it enforced?
- Are there any conditions for tolling a road in the first place? This is a regular road (and not access controlled in any way) with so many establishments and localities around it. The first 10 – 15 Km of the road actually fall under the City Chennai corporation itself.
