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Due to fund shortage of a private road developer widening of the Chengapalli-Neelambur six-lane project and the Madukkarai-Walayar four-lane project have run into rough weather yet again. Residents now have to wait longer for a comfortable drive from Coimbatore to places like Erode and Palakkad. The widening of NH-47 from Chengapalli to Neelambur and from Madukkarai to Walayar has come to a grinding halt owing to fund constraints of the private contractor.

The Rs 852 crore NHAI project, taken up under Phase-II of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), was earlier scheduled to be completed by March 2013.

An official with the NHAI said that the private contractor had to stop the work allegedly due to fund constraints. The government has now given the contractor a six-month extension to complete the work. The 54km-project that involves six-laning a stretch of 42 km and four-laning a stretch of 12 km was awarded to IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects in January 2010.

The construction work, taken up more than two years ago, has been facing several interruptions owing to bad weather and complications in the land acquisition process. And now, the disruption is due to shortage of funds. At present the road is in a very bad shape.

Commuters who travels frequently to Palakkad from Coimbatore demanded that the private contractor should be asked to complete the work on a war-footing. Besides being a busy highway, the NH-47 is also very important for transportation of goods from Coimbatore to Kerala. Once both stretches of the highway are ready, it will go a long way in ensuring smooth traffic.