Tender floated to complete pending semi-ring road work

Trichy: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has floated a fresh tender to complete Thuvakudi and Panchapur stretch of semi-ring road project as part of linking five national highways (NH) passing through Trichy.
The move comes after a contractor earlier selected by NHAI had failed to finish the portion of the semi-ring road in time. A portion of the semi-ring road is likely to be operational in 2020 through the tender.

Since 2007, the NHAI Karaikudi unit and NHAI Karur have been implementing the semi-ring road project which was split into two segments - Thuvakudi to Panchapur (From Thanjavur NH to Madurai NH) and Panchapur to Jeeyapuram (Madurai NH to Karur NH). While Panchapur-Jeeyapuram stretch faced legal hurdles in 2009 and was realigned, the other section of semi-ring road was not completed even though it has adequate land.

As the project was moving at snail’s pace for over a decade now, district collector K Rajamani convened a meeting and told the NHAI to find a new contractor to complete the Thuvakudi-Panchapur stretch. Following this, the NHAI floated a tender to identify new contractor for completing the semi-ring road between Thuvakudi and Panchapur.

“With the new tender we look to complete the fresh and pending roadworks for a distance of 25.3 km linking Trichy-Thanjavur NH with Trichy-Madurai NH via Trichy-Pudukkottai NH. Once an eligible contractor is identified, the works will begin soon,” NHAI source said. The works on upcoming stretch, including construction of a major bridge and ROB across the railway tracks between Mathur and Panchapur, may go on for 18 months.

The NHAI has estimated an amount of Rs 130.24 crore as the expense of a part of semi-road project along with NH 210 two-lane works. “We gave an ample amount of time to the contractor who was identified earlier to complete the works. Since there was no progress, a new tender has been floated,” the senior official added.

If things go as planned, a portion of semi road is expected to come up for public use in 2020. NH67 expansion project connecting Jeeyapuram (on Karur-Trichy stretch of NH 67) with Thuvakudi (Trichy-Thanjavur stretch of NH 67) has been proposed by NHAI in 2007. The 43-km semi-ring road will link five national highways connecting Karur, Dindigul, Madurai, Pudukkottai, and Thanjavur districts.

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