Chennai: The Union Environment Ministry has given its clearance for a ring road connecting Ennore port and Mamallapuram.
According to reports, the Tamilnadu government had given its official clearance for the ring road, costing Rs 6,175 crore, some years ago.
It was planned to lay this 8-lane road to enable containers coming from the southern parts of the State reach Ennore Port easily.
It is said new roads would be laid for a length of 97 km of the ring road that would run for a total of 133 km. Existing roads that run for 33 km, would be strengthened.
The Coastal Regulation Zone of the Environment Ministry has marked certain conditions for laying the ring road:
- Clearance should be obtained from the Tamilandu Pollution Control Board
- The new road should not affect water bodies like ponds and lakes
- It should not draw water from the Coastal Regulation Zone
- Mangrove forest should be created near the coastal areas through which the road is laid
- Palm trees should be planted all along the route
- Fisher folk should not be affected by the project
The super ring road will have five big bridges, 20 small bridges, 324 causeways, 49 subways, four overbridges and three railway overbridges. It will run through 81 villages, 77 km of agricultural lands and 2 km of forests. So, 25 acres of forest land in Kondamangalam in Kanchipuram district are to be acquired.
As the project is bound to see trees being axed, the plan is to restrict it to uprooting of 2,629 trees of the 4,797 trees that would be in the way.