Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday dedicated to the nation and laid the foundation stone for 11 infrastructure projects worth about ₹31,530 crore in Tamil Nadu, across railways, highways and housing sectors.
The projects include the ₹14,872-crore, 262 km Bangalore-Chennai expressway, ₹5,852-crore four-lane elevated road in Neraluru to Dharmapuri section, about ₹2,900 crore worth Railways projects, a natural gas pipeline project and ₹1,428-crore multi-modal logistics park near Chennai. While dedicating these projects to the nation, the Prime Minister said the Government of India was fully focussed on building top-quality and sustainable infrastructure. Modernisation and development was being done, keeping in mind the needs of the future. At the same time, it would merge with local art and culture, he added.
These projects are expected to significantly improve socio-economic prosperity in the region, have a transformative impact on several sectors and also help create employment opportunities.
For Railways, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of five railway stations in Southern Railway—Chennai Egmore, Katpadi, Madurai, Rameswaram and Kanniyakumari— which is estimated to cost about ₹1,803 crore.
As per the Railways, these stations would sport upgraded passenger amenities, aesthetically designed interiors, improved ambience, beautiful landscaping in the frontage, inter-model access, airport-like illumination and parking facilities. “Futuristic world-class amenities promising to meet the requirements of next 40 years will be provided,” it said. The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Madurai-Theni gauge converted railway line, which costs ₹506 crore. He also flagged off the inaugural passenger train service between the Madurai-Theni Section. “Passenger train service between Madurai and Theni is planned to be introduced shortly. Approval for operation of train services has been already received from the Railway Board. This train will stop at Vadapalani, Usilampatti and Andipatti stations. On completion of the line up to Bodinayakkanur, additional train services will be planned,” the Railways said.
The ₹598-crore Tambaram-Chengalpattu third line project, work on which was commenced during January 2017, was also dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister.
