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It may still be some time before work on the much-hyped Eastern Road Corridor Project (ERCP) takes off in Jamshedpur. The project, which would ease traffic with Ranchi and other neighbouring states, is stuck in the dialogue process between the state government and Tata Steel.

"There are some issues that are being settled with the state government," said Tata Steel managing director T V Narendran. Interacting with the press on the first day of the business year, 2014-15, on Tuesday, Narendran said the company is committed to the sustainable growth of the town.

"We held several parleys with the three-member secretary-level committee of the state government and look forward to settling the issues so that work on the eastern corridor project commences soon," said Sunil Bhaskaran, deputy vice president (corporate services), who was present at the meet.

Set to come up in a public private partnership mode, the work on the INR 1350 crore road-link project, was to be jointly taken up by the state and Tata Steel. The ambitious project, which aims to link the eastern part of the city with the western part through multiple road links and flyover, is held-up for the last several years.

Bhaskaran said the ongoing West Road Corridor Project (WRCP) will be completed by August this year. The western corridor will cover 29.3 km and involve the construction of a flyover connecting the Kharkai bridge in Adityapur with the Mango bridge via the Marine Drive.

esponding to a query, Narendran said the INR 400 crore Tata Steel International Airport in Gamharia, around 15km from Jamshedpur, is also on track. The MD added that taking lessons from the gas-holder explosion incident last year, the company has been extra vigilant with regard to safety in the plant. "Following that incident, safety experts from our Europe plant and local plant, have jointly scrutinized all important installations in the Jamshedpur plant," said Narendran.

Amid talks of expansion of the Jamshedpur plant to 10MTPA capacity, the company has announced to shift few educational institutes that are located close to the plant in Sakchi to a relatively safer place behind Rabindra Bhavan, at a distance of 1.5km in Sakchi locality itself.

Reiterating to engage effectively with the denizens in different forms, Narendran said in the coming days there would be greater thrust on cultural activities in the town. "The idea is to engage with the people through these activities. Hopefully, more such programmes will be held (at regular intervals)," said the MD, who was flanked by Tata Group's executive director (finance and corporate) Koushik Chatterjee at the press meet at the Center for Excellence auditorium.

Source-On Request