The stand-off in the implementation of the Chennai port-Maduravoyal Expressway road project could be a blessing in disguise for the Ennore port.
The 19-km elevated corridor begins at Chennai port Gate No.10 and travels along the bank of the Cooum River till it reaches Koyambedu and along the median of National Highway 4 thereon till it ends at Maduravoyal.
The project is considered vital for Chennai Port’s two private container terminals and was used as a marketing tool to attract bidders for the Rs 4,500 crore mega container terminal project.
However, with the expressway project in a limbo, bidders were hesitant to participate in the mega project due to likely problems in evacuation of containers from the port.
The Ennore port, which is 20 km north of Chennai, is now touting better connectivity - both road and rail - as its unique selling proposition to market its Rs 1,460 crore container terminal project. And, it has succeeded in doing so with 11 global companies showing interest in the project.
The expressway project has come to a grinding halt after the present AIADMK regime came to power. While construction was gaining pace, the State Water Resources Department wanted the National Highways Authority of India, which is implementing the project, to realign the expressway and proceed with the Rs 1,815-crore project. This, the NHAI said, was not feasible, and the project is in a standstill mode now.
The existing two private container terminals at Chennai port - DP World Chennai and PSA – can have some comfort with the Ennore-Manali road improvement project nearing completion. This will provide a four-lane road to connect the Ennore region.
The two terminals have enough capacity and the adjacent Katupalli port has already set up a full fledged container terminal. Despite this, the Ennore port is confident that its project will take off in a big way, thanks to better connectivity, an official of Ennore Port Ltd said.
Ennore port is connected to three National Highways. NH-5 connects Chennai and Kolkata; the NH-4 links Chennai with Mumbai and NH-45 connects Chennai and southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
The Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetty (TPP) road is a critical link to Ennore port. This road is being widened to four-lane one under the Ennore Manali Road Improvement project.
Outer ring road
To ease congestion on the city’s main arterial road and to ensure free flow of vehicular traffic, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to build a 62-km long connectivity corridor linking Vandalur on NH-45 with Minjur on the TPP road. This project is being developed in two phases.
A new 4-lane road from Northern gate of Ennore port to Thachur in NH5, including a link to the TPP road, for a total of 25.5 km is being proposed by the State government.
Alignment finalisation is underway. On completion, this road will have an additional connectivity to the port without touching the congested city traffic.
Rail connectivity
The port is connected to the Southern Railways network at Attipattu and Attipattu Pudhunagar railways stations at about 6 km from the port on the Chennai-Gudur section. The port plans to be connected via railw until the end of the container terminal.
If everything goes according to plan, trains would run right in the middle of Chennai’s Outer Ring Road with vehicular movement on either side of the track in a couple of years.
This railway line will connect Ennore port with Nemilicheri, and eventually connect with the Chennai-Bangalore railway network.