Destructive force of TN!

Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port, is the second largest port of India, behind the Nhava Sheva Port, and the largest port in the Bay of Bengal. It is the third oldest port among the 12 major ports of India with official port operations beginning in 1881, although maritime trade started much earlier in 1639 on the undeveloped shore. It is an artificial and all-weather port with wet docks. Once a major travel port, it become a major container port in the post-Independence era. The port remains a primary reason for the economic growth of Tamil Nadu, especially for the manufacturing boom in South India, and has contributed greatly to the development of the city.  It is due of the existence of the port that the city of Chennai eventually became known as the Gateway of South India. The port has become a hub port for containers, cars and project cargo in the east coast of India. From handling a meagre volume of cargo in the early years of its existence, consisting chiefly of imports of oil and motors and the export of groundnuts, granite and ores, the port has started handling more than 60 million tonnes of cargo in recent years. In 2008, the port’s container traffic crossed 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). It is currently ranked the 86th largest container port in the world and there are plans to expand the capacity to about 140 million tonnes per annum. It is an ISO 14001:2004 and ISPS-certified port and has become a main line port having direct connectivity to more than 50 ports around the world.
So, industrialization of Tamil Nadu is unimaginable without Chennai port as it was through the port that huge machineries for starting manufacturing industries were imported from abroad in the last two or three centuries.
But such an important gateway for the economic prosperity of the State is now facing the threat of closure due to the destructive attitude of the chief of ADMK regime, Jayalalitha.
Realising the need for speedier and unhindered connectivity to and from the port with the growing traffic congestion in the city, the previous DMK government proposed the Chennai port-Maduravoyal elevated expressway and succeeded in getting approval and funds for the project from the Centre. An 18.3-kilometre (11.4 mi) long, 20-metre (66 ft) wide elevated road project connecting the port with Maduravoyal was under construction at a cost of Rs.1,850 crore . Upon completion, this will be the country’s longest four-way elevated expressway. The project was sanctioned in June 2007 when the then DMK Government gave its ‘in principle’ approval to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for the elevated expressway. The project cost then was put at Rs.1,468 crore. In January 2009, the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, laid the foundation stone for the project in the presence of the then Chief Minister Kalaignar. The expressway starts from Gate No. 10 of the Chennai Port near the War Memorial and ends before Maduravoyal Interchange. It would run along the banks of the Cooum up to Koyambedu and would end along the Cooum near the Koyambedu grade separator. From there for a distance of three km up to Maduravoyal the elevated expressway would come up on Poonamallee High Road. There would be a total of four entry and exit ramps as part of the project. While the entry ramps would come up on Sivananda Salai and College Road, the exit points would be provided on Spurtank Road and Kamaraj Salai. (These provisions will also ease vehicular traffic within the city and very much reduce accident deaths) The work at the Maduravoyal end began in December 2010. The project was initially expected to be completed by end of 2013. However, the project has been put on hold by the ADMK regime citing the reason that the flow of water in Cooum would be hindered and despite repeated efforts made by the UPA government then and now the BJP regime, Jayalalitha is unmoved and remain stubborn in stalling this key infrastructure project.
Now, evacuation of containers from the Chennai port is becoming a serious problem because lack of adequate road near the port gate is delaying the loading of consignments and affecting the exports, Dr A Sakthivel regional chairman of Federation of Indian exporters organization said in a statement on June 12, 2015. He said the exporters have to either pay huge detention charges to logistic companies or divert the cargo to nearby ports apart from suffering huge delays affecting the reliability of exports.
Export of textiles, readymade garmernts, chemicals, fertilizers, automobile and engineering industry spare parts, oil, wooden blocks, and leather goods and import of food products, electronic products and fertilizers are being handled in the port from and to over 20 lakh containers per year. The trade turnover in the port per month is around Rs.6,000 crore from which the port trust is earning annual income of over Rs.600 crore.
Due to containers getting blocked in traffic at times they had to wait for a week to reach the dock of the port by which time the cargo vessels leave causing loss to exporters. Moreover due to global economic downturn, importers could not stock goods in advance and buy only the required quantity. Hence exporters could not meet the deadline of buyers. Similarly, time barred food products get spoilt and importers incur loss.  Due to these reasons, import and export through Chennai port has come down by 8 percent this year.
Chennai port alone is not affected due to the reticent attitude of Jayalalitha. Amid growing competition from nearby ports, the managers of Kamarajar Port Limited or the erstwhile Ennore Port, also expressed concern about the need for better last-mile connectivity, given the fact that India’s first major corporate port is set for expansion with a container terminal, a multi-cargo terminal and a couple of coal berths for state-run power utility Tangedco in the next two years. The project in question is the 21.1km long Northern Port Access (NPA) Road. The six-lane plan to connect Ennore Port with Panchetty near Thachur on NH5 remains only on paper, despite NHAI completing feasibility study in 2008 itself. “I hope government will take all necessary steps to see that it is done as quickly as possible,” Kamarajar Port Limited chairman M A Baskarachar said, on the sidelines of the appraisal of the port’s performance.
While the Chennai port traffic suffers due to the problem with 19km elevated corridor connecting it with Maduravoyal, after PWD issued stopped work notice citing environment concerns in 2012, the delay in execution of NPA Road would hit the Ennore Port in the coming years, when the traffic sees manifold increase. While the State government has included the stretch as phase I of its ambitious Chennai Peripheral Road, connecting Mamallapuram with Kattupalli, land acquisition is yet to begin, government sources said. At least 30% progress has been made in the Rs.1,270 crore container terminal, which would handle a capacity of 1.4 million TEUs. A bulk terminal with a handling capacity of nine million tonne per annum is likely to be commissioned by January 2018.
Sakthivel warned exports from Chennai port might dip in the coming months if the situation is not corrected immediately. He also pleaded with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha to take the initiative to restart the work in the Rs. 2000 crore elevated corridor from the port gate to Maduravoyal. The work on the project has been held up for over three years to the detriment of the EXIM trade in Chennai. The viability of the Chennai port may suffer in the long run if the State government’s attitude on the project did not change, shippers feel.
On Jun 2, Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari today said that Rs 7,000-crore international port project at Vizhinjam in Kerala might be moved to neighbouring Tamil Nadu if the political differences in the State over awarding the project to the Adani group is not resolved fast. “If there are differences in Kerala on this port, I am giving you a clear direction that we will make the international port at Colachel near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu,” he told reporters at a press conference to mark one year of the Narendra Modi government. But Kerala had been dithering on this project for the past one year but there is a useless regime in Tamil Nadu that did not clinch the opportunity to get it for Colachel. Now after this ultimatum by the Centre, Kerala’s Congress-led government has approved the proposal amidst opposition by CPM-led LDF.  
Now, Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan has said he was prepared to meet the Chief Minister to press his demand for handing over the Colachel port to the Central Government so as to develop it into a full-fledged harbour capable of handling larger vessels. During an informal chat with the reporters in Tirunelveli on Jun 16, Radhakrishnan said a comprehensive study on developing the Colachel natural port into a full-fledged harbour was going on and the exercise would be completed within a month. Since the Centre was prepared to fund this project, the State Government might consider handing it over to the Union Government.
Pon. Radhakrishnan also sought more cooperation from the Tamil Nadu government for executing new road projects by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Five new NHAI road projects had been awarded for Tamil Nadu at an estimated cost of over Rs. 2,000 crore to cover about 407 kilometres, he said speaking at a meeting organised by the NHAI on the one-year achievements of the Central government in Chennai on Jun 3. Among the projects on the Ministry’s checklist is the proposed multi-lane expansion of the East Coast Road from Tuticorin to Kanyakumari via Tiruchendur and Kudankulam, sanctioned at a cost of Rs257 crore. This will be useful as link road for easing traffic on State highways, enable faster movement of cargo and effective coastal patrolling for security.
Also on the Minister’s checklist is the 19km Chennai port-Maduravoyal elevated expressway, initiated by the erstwhile DMK rule which has not moved beyond erection of some pillars with the State government throwing the spanner in the works saying the project would affect flow of water in Cooum river.
The new projects would propel Tamil Nadu into a new growth path. Cheyyur ultra mega thermal project initiated by NTPC is also stalled, due to apprehension that sediments from the site would spoil the neighbourhood. The Avinashi-Athikadavu irrigation project for farmers in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts has stagnated on apprehension that it may impact Western Ghats.
The Minister said the 32-km-long Avinashi-Tirupur-Avinashipalayam sector had been declared as a national highway. The cumulative length of the national highways in Tamil Nadu was a little over 5,000 kilometres. But, as usual there is no response from Jayalalitha regime, as she will have no personal ‘gain’ in these projects of the Centre.
Without building any new infrastructural and stalling ongoing projects, the ADMK regime had brought disgrace for Tamil Nadu in the eyes of potential domestic and foreign investors and turned the clock of progress in the reverse.
Due to this reckless attitude of Jayalalitha, not only Tamil Nadu’s progress is hampered but also whatever was built over nearly two centuries are facing threat of gradual extinction. Certainly Jayalalitha is the destructive force of Tamil Nadu and hence, sooner the people of the State removed her from the rule and also political arena, the better for posterity!  (21 June 2015)