The Hindu : It's bumpy ride on the `software corridor'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 19, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

It's bumpy ride on the `software corridor'

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI April 18. Old Mamallapuram Road is, they say, a ``software corridor''. But, the condition of the road, for the initial one km, makes one wonder whether it is a test stretch for driving on harsh surfaces.

The element of surprise gives way to shock and dismay when one comes to know that improvement work on the road was taken up only a few years ago, that too at a huge cost — almost Rs. one crore for a km.

To those who are otherwise dealing with hi-tech, the road, which is in a shrunken state in certain pockets thanks to encroachment or land acquisition problems, provides only bumpy rides and ``brings them down virtually to earth'', given the size and number of potholes.

Forming part of the Radial Roads Project, the 42-km-long `gateway' to several IT companies was divided into three stretches — junction of Thiruvanmiyur-Taramani and Velachery roads to Semmanachery (a distance of 14 km), Semmanchery to Thiruporur (15 km) and Thiruporur to Mamallapuram (13 km). The contracted value of each improvement package varies in the range of Rs. 14 crores to Rs. 15 crores. Interestingly, the project is the first road sector scheme financed by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) in Tamil Nadu.

The road was six m wide prior to the improvement. ``Except for the first seven km, the road now has a width of 18 to 19 m. In the initial leg, it was 15 to 16 m wide'', highway officials say. But, it is in this stretch that the major problem lies. ``It is not execution of project work that is responsible for the present state of the road, particularly from near SRP Tools to Kandanchavadi, but due to overflow of sewage from several joints on a massive sewage pipeline laid under the road'', the Highways department says.

A sewage treatment plant is located at Perungudi and sewage generated in many localities of south Chennai is conveyed to the plant through pipes. ``It is this pipeline that has become the problem,'' according to the department. The length of the pipeline under the road is 1.2 km and for every five m or so, there is a joint. The officials explain that the top portion of the road in many spots has peeled off as sewage overflows from some of the joints coupled with pressure exerted by vehicles, passing through the road. ``So far, leaks have developed only in about 35 joints. But, we are not sure how many more joints will spring leaks hereafter'', they say.

The problem looks more complicated with Metrowater finding it difficult to stop the pumping of sewage, even for a day or two, for plugging the leaks. As of now, the pumping of sewage is done 16 hours a day.

However, Metrowater says it has attended to the leakage problem in 20 joints. ``We have only 15 more to tackle which we will do in three weeks''. Its officials also say that the Highways department does not have to wait for the completion of plugging of all the leaks to take up the re-laying work. ``They can even now repair the road where we had done our job''. But, the water agency also acknowledges that leakage can occur in other joints. The uncertainty over this bothers the HUDCO. It feels that a new sewage pipeline has to be laid to find a permanent solution to deterioration of the road. Metrowater says plans are afoot to lay a fresh pipeline under the Chennai City Rivers Conservation Project. The problem is not only over the surface condition. In Thiruporur and Kandanchavadi/Perungudi, there is also the land acquisition problem, a common feature of developmental projects. Because of this, the Highways department has not been able to lay a stormwater drain upto Thoraippakkam.

Except the Semmanacheri-Thiruporur stretch, other sections of the road have not yet been handed over by the project wing of the Highways department to the maintenance wing, as the work is not over. Despite the gravity of the problems, the officials hope that ``the light at the end of the tunnel will be found''. But, this does not convince the road users.

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