Chennai to Kanniyakumari ECR finished by 2009

The East Coast Road (ECR) from Chennai to Kanniyakumari project would be completed by 2009,state high way minister Vellakoil Swaminathan said today. Taking to reporters here he said out of the total stretch of 742km of ECR, 552Km had been completed.

The work on the stretches between Ramanathapuram -Tuticorin and Kumbakonam-Thiruvathavur were progressing. Eleven big towns would be provided by-pass road at a cost of Rs.236cr. A by-pass road and a railway over bridge would be constructed at a cost of Rs.35 cr here. The district roads were being repaired at a cost of Rs.250 cr with the assitance from the NABARD.

The work on four-way road from Madurai to Ramanathapuram and Tiruchi-Ramanathapuram would begin shortly, he said.

Leyland-Nissan LCV Plant near Chennai

The Ashok Leyland and Nissan will be combined to construct a new LCV plant very soon at Chennai. The project started the first step after signing the MoU with the TN government. A land of 380 acres would be acquired to set up the facility.

It will be set up at Pillaipakkam which is located 40 KM away from Chennai. The MoU was signed between the state's industries secretary MF Farooqui, R Seshasayee and Andy Palmer.The chief minister of Tamil Nadu was also present on the occasion.

The project is expected to give employment to around 4500 people directly and while another 13,500 indirectly.The first vehicle from the plant is expected to come in the market by 2010-11.

Etihad Airways takes off for Chennai

The United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s national airline Etihad Airways has launched its inaugural flights to Chennai and Kozhikode in India. "India is an enormously important market for Etihad and one we are very keen to expand further," a news agency quoted James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, as saying. "The appetite for air travel between Abu Dhabi and India shows no sign of relenting and we hope to grow our Indian flying programme even further in the future." There are around 1.5 million expatriate Indians in the UAE and a large number of them hail from south India, especially Kerala. The two separate launches Friday of Etihad's new services increase the number of Indian destinations served by Etihad to six.