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• The Chennai Port Trust is ready to hand over land in Tondiarpet to the Navy, whose land on Kamarajar Salai is to be acquired for the Port-Maduravoyal elevated project, port officials said on Monday. The project, beset with land acquisition problems since the beginning, finally got stuck when the Navy refused to hand over the land near Gate 10 of the port compound. Chennai Port Trust chairman Atulya Mishra told TOI that "land owned by the port trust near Tondiarpet could be exchanged for the prestigious project. We have already conveyed the message to the authorities concerned. As the project needs only a small portion of Navy land, I hope it will be settled soon." The alignment of the Rs 1,655 crore elevated corridor from Chennai Port to Maduravoyal is being finalized. Last week, Union shipping minister G K Vasan and highways minister C P Joshi discussed with state government officials the much-delayed 19km corridor that will have a 17km elevated stretch. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is executing the project, has settled a part of the land acquisition.
• A senior NHAI official said the "project is going to be the lifeline of Chennai port and one of the major solutions to reduce traffic congestion in the city. We were supposed to complete it by September 2013. The recent meeting with state government officials and the Union shipping and highways ministries was to ensure measures to finish land acquisition." The official added that they were yet to get a positive response from the Navy. "Though we need only a small portion of Navy land to build the entry and exit ramps for the corridor, they are insisting on a complete takeover of the land, which is difficult for us within the estimated cost limits," he said.

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