 "Ring Road")
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a loan agreement amounting to 49,847 million Japanese Yen (Rs 2,809 crore) for the construction of the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road Project (Phase 2) in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The Chennai Peripheral Ring Road is placed as one of the priority projects in the “Comprehensive Integrated Master Plan for Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (2015)” based on the agreement between the government of Japan and the government of India. The objective of the project is to meet the rapidly increasing traffic demand in the Chennai metropolitan area, ease congestion, reduce transportation time by about 40 minutes from/to Chennai and Ennore ports (through the phase 1 and 2 project), and enhance connectivity to the southern part of the state by constructing a 26.3-kilometre Peripheral Ring Road and introducing Intelligent Transportation Systems.
JICA signed the loan agreement for the first phase of the project in March 2018 and supported the construction of Section 1 (24.5km in total), which is the northernmost part of the Peripheral Ring Road. Subsequently, in this second phase of the project, JICA contributes to the construction of Section 5, which is the southernmost part of the Peripheral Ring Road, and the introduction of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) from Sections 2 to 5.
Saito Mitsunori, Chief Representative of JICA India office said, “The traffic volume in Chennai has been increasing steeply with rapidly growing urbanization, resulting in continuous severe traffic congestions. The Chennai metropolitan area accommodates lots of industrial companies and factories supported by its location, namely, a critical cross-point for road as well as marine transportation for importing/exporting industrial goods and materials from/to other cities in India and South-East Asia. JICA will contribute to mitigating traffic congestion and improving industrial development in Chennai through both the 1st Phase and the 2nd Phase of the project.” The executing agency is the Highways and Minor Ports Department, the Government of Tamil Nadu.
