Could the MRTS Phase II project cost escalate if compensation has to be paid under new land acquisition act?

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The cost to complete the Rs 495 crore Phase II Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) between Velachery and St Thomas Mount is likely to escalate after Madras High Court has ordered the state government to compensate the petitioners as per the new land acquisition Act.

Sources told Express that efforts are on to disburse the compernsation and take over the possession of the land to complete the project.

 Interestingly, officials are still hopeful that the project is likely to be completed by December 2016. The project commenced on 2008.


It is learnt that the total outlay of the project is Rs 495.74 crore. Of this the share of union government is Rs 165.24 crore and the the state government is Rs 330.50 crore.


Sources said that till August 2015, a total of Rs 320.10 crore has been already spent. “This financial year till August 2015, a total of 10.97 crore has already been spent,” sources said. The proposed alignment and extension of Phase-II took place in the year 2008 and till now 3.7 km out of the 5 km stretch of MRTS line has
been completed.

The project has been pending over acquisition of 500 metres of land.
Interestingly, there was much hope last year immediately after the
Madras High Court Madras High Court cleared the way after dismissing the petitions challenging the acquisition of land and deviation in the project.

However, compensation has been an issue as the landowners sought to be compensated under the new land acquisition act. Sources revealed that a total of 28 beneficiaries have been identified and the work would resume after they are compensated.

The earlier compensation was based on old land acquisition act and now the compensation is being reviewed under the new act which replaced the 119-year-old obsolete legislation.



Interestingly, it was the new land acquisition act which has delayed the Vandalur satellite bus terminus as the land acquisition of agricultural land proved too costly for the government at the current market rate that it started scouting for another tract of land to implement the project. It is learnt that the government is focussing on promboke land which is also involved in legal tangle.



The MRTS project envisages development of the elevated MRTS on single pillars along the median of the Inner Ring Road (IRR) from MBL Road to St Thomas Road for a distance of about 5 km.