COIMBATORE: The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has allotted Rs154 crore in the first phase to acquire land for a 1.1km stretch on Coimbatore-Sathyamangalam road at Ganapathy in the city for the metro rail project.
The city corporation will soon carry out a land plan survey for the land acquisition with the help of CMRL officials, while the revenue department officials will carry out the land acquisition work. Meanwhile, the CMRL is also planning to set up its office, for which the civic body has agreed to allot space, in the city.
Coimbatore MP Ganapathy P Rajkumar and corporation commissioner Sivaguru Prabakaran had met the CMRL officials in Chennai last week and discussed the metro rail project, which would be implemented in two corridors. The first corridor will begin at Ukkadam bus stand and end at Neelambur integrated station via city airport, covering a distance of 20.4km. The second corridor will begin at the city railway junction and end at Valiyampalayam Pirivu, covering a distance of 14.4km.
“The stretch from Textool rail over-bridge to Surya Hospital on the Coimbatore-Sathyamangalam road at Ganapathy is too narrow and often witnesses huge traffic jams. The National Highways wing of the State Highways Department was already planning to widen the road for a stretch of 3.1km from the Textool rail over-bridge. The project required land acquisition and the National Highways authorities had recently sanctioned Rs54 crore for the same. The CMRL was also planning to acquire land on the same stretch for its metro rail project. We cannot acquire land repeatedly in the same area. So, we asked the CMRL authorities to allot Rs154 crore in the first phase to acquire a parcel of land that is 24 metres wide from Textool flyover to Surya Hospital Junction for a stretch of 1.1km,” the corporation commissioner said. According to him, the CMRL’s project management committee sanctioned Rs154 crore on Friday. The revenue department will acquire the land, mostly along the eastern side of the road. After the land acquisition work, the National Highways authorities will start the road widening work for a stretch of 3.1km from the Textool rail over-bridge.”
He said they would soon start the land plan survey work for the metro rail project. “We had requested the CMRL to allot Rs2 crore for the same and it has been sanctioned. Our team will carry out a detailed study about the land to be acquired on the two corridors and what steps need to be taken to shift the underground cables and water pipelines from the two corridors. We will prepare a detailed report and submit it to the CMRL. Based on the report, the CMRL will carry out the land acquisition on the two stretches.”
Sivaguru Prabakaran said the corporation would provide space on rent for the CMRL to set up its office in the city. “Once the CMRL appoints staff for the Coimbatore office, the work will speed up.”
