Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS): Reliance Infrastructure, part of the Reliance Group headed by Anil Ambani, Monday announced the completion of 136 km road connecting Salem and Ulundurpet in Tamil Nadu at an outlay of Rs.1,061 crore.
The company in a statement issued here said the road project on build-operate-tranfer (BOT) basis was completed by its special purpose vehicle, SU Toll Road Pvt. Ltd., and collection of toll in three plazas has begun.
The company has been awarded the contract to operate and maintain the road for a concession period of 25 years.
"We expect an increase in traffic of over 4,000 more vehicles per day. The new toll plaza is closer to Salem, which is an industrial centre with numerous steel, textiles, cement and electrical equipment manufacturing units. Such industrial traffic would benefit from faster and convenient passage through the road," Sudhir R. Hoshing, CEO (Roads), Reliance Infrastructure, was quoted as saying in the statement.
According to Reliance Infrastructure, the Salem-Ulundurpet corridor project required major realignment work and widening of the entire stretch right from Salem to enable construction of four lanes.
With the completion of the project, the average speed of vehicles will now double to approximately 70 km per hour, thereby reducing the travelling time by up to 50 percent and saving fuel cost by almost 40 percent, the company claimed.
Commuters travelling the entire 136-km stretch can now cover this distance in less than two hours, whereas the same distance earlier took nearly four hours.
All toll plazas are equipped with Automated Toll System to cut down stopover time. Commuters residing within 10 and 20 km radius of the toll plazas can also avail the benefit of monthly discounted passes costing Rs.150 and Rs.300 respectively.
All toll plazas are equipped with an Emergency Control Room with 24x7 ambulance services to locate accident sites and provide medical services within the minimum response time.
Two patrolling cars will patrol the entire corridor 24X7 to ensure the safety and security of the commuters.
The corridor also has 38 Passengers Bus shelters with various commuter centric facilities like Reverse Osmosis (RO) drinking water kiosks.