Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has sent a letter to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to terminate the 20-year Chennai-Tada road concession in the state of Tamil Nadu.

According to sources, L&T has developed several flyovers and underpasses but are unable to connect it to the road since land is not available. Acquisition for the road is under the control of the NHAI.

The land acquisition delay has raised the project costs. Sources at L&T said that the company cannot afford the endeavor at the rate that was fixed six years ago.

The project began in 2009 and had to be finished by 2011, but to date only about 50% of construction works have been finished due to delays in land acquisition.

L&T is responsible for designing, engineering, funding, construction, operations and maintenance of the 43.34 km road that connects Chennai to Tada on the NH5 in Andhra Pradesh. The project includes six-laning the highway on a design, build, finance, operation and transfer (DBFOT) model, along with the construction of a Toll Plaza.

The total project investment was estimated at Rs8.48 billion (US$133.4 million).

In late June we reported that IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd emerged as the lowest bidder for the Amravati-Chikhli and Fagne-Gujarat/Maharashtra border sections of National Highway NH-6 in Maharashtra, India.