About 70 km of GCC roads to be handed over to Highways

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is handing over key roads in Chennai, including Arcot Road, Usman Road, Nelson Manickam Road, Tondiarpet High Road, New Avadi Road, and Madhavaram Milk Colony Road, the State Highways Department.

Around 70 km of roads and portions of roads are on the list prepared by the corporation. “They are being transferred since most of them are major bus route roads, which are contiguous with or connected to highways located within the city limit.

It is for better administrative efficiency and maintenance. We have sent the proposal to the State government,” an official source in the GCC said. The civic body will not get any road in exchange, as it did the last time it handed over some road stretches to the Highways.

The roads that are to be taken over are quite long, including Dr. MGR Salai-Arcot Road (6.4 km), Konnur High Road that is 5.4 km, New Avadi Road (5.2 km), and Tondiarpet High Road (4.8 km). The longest is the 7.21-km Kodambakkam-Sriperumbudur Road (Arcot Road).

Official sources in the Highways said works such as profile corrections of roads, restoration of road surfaces, and construction of storm-water drains would be carried out. “We plan to introduce five-year performance-based maintenance contracts (PBMC) for these roads.

The maintenance will be done by the same contractor who does the profile correction,” a source said. The PBMC, in its earlier avatar, was introduced ten years ago, and given to contractors other than those who laid the roads.