Chennai: On a regular day, navigating through MC Road in North Chennai’s Royapuram is a challenge. Packed with streetside vendors and the swarming crowd around them, this congested road has crawling traffic constantly emitting piercing honking sounds, especially on holidays, making it look like a milder version of the streets of Chandni Chowk in the national capital.
However, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has come up with a plan to decongest the stretch, and make it pedestrian-friendly with amenities like safer and wider footpaths, and seamless mobility. The aim is to build it into a commercial hub and a hangout spot for Chennaites.
The initiative, rolled out as part of the Complete Streets Project, also includes revamping of multiple stretches beside the MC Road, located across six neighbourhoods in the city.
Officially announced in 2020, GCC began the execution of the project at MC Road in February this year, and at Khader Nawaz Khan (KNK) Road at Nungambakkam six months ago. Officials expect these stretches to be opened to public by June 2025.
Previously called the Chennai Mega Street Project, the Complete Streets Project, as it is now referred to by GCC officials, is part of an experiment to improve the whole city step-by-step, says the civic body.
“This is called the Complete Streets Project because it aims to provide all the amenities a street should have,” Christy, communication cell in-charge of the GCC, says.
However, she points out that the unavailability of land is a major hurdle for the civic body to roll out a project like this, adding that the GCC will have to make use of the available land.
According to Christy, the project was implemented following the positive response to the revamping of Pondy Bazaar under the Smart City Project, which was opened to public in 2019.
A busy shopping area in the city’s T Nagar, the nearly 800 metre-long stretch of Pondy Bazaar Pedestrian Plaza got a facelift at a cost of nearly Rs 40 crore. Once a congested shopping hub in the heart of the city, Pondy Bazaar is now one of the city’s most popular social spaces, not just for Chennaites, but also for visitors. It now has wider footpaths with many trees, seaters, and a children’s play area, and also hosts several food joints, besides shopping stores.
The city’s first pedestrian plaza was conceptualised in 2011 and was inaugurated in 2019 by the then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
“During a survey conducted in 2020, the shopkeepers (in Pondy Bazaar) told the GCC that the hub saw an economic gain higher than any other market in Chennai during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Christy says, adding that it also hosts many international visitors.
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Facelift for six neighbourhoods
As announced in 2020, multiple stretches in six neighbourhoods — Anna Nagar, Thiruvottiyur-Tondiarpet-George Town, Nungambakkam, Mylapore, Velachery and Adyar — have been selected for the renovation project.
The project team, headed by B.V. Babu, Superintending Engineer at the Special Projects department at GCC, aims to implement the project in two phases: Sustainable Urban Services Programme (SUSP) and Urban Mobility and Spatial Development (UMSD), where roads of 11.6 km and 60 km are to be revamped, respectively.
Work is currently underway on the 1 km stretch of MC Road in Royapuram (Zone 5 of the Chennai Corporation) and the 0.65 km stretch of KNK Road in Nungambakkam (Zone 9). Apart from this, tenders are under scrutiny for the 0.9 km stretch of Race Course Road in Adyar.
Tenders have also been called for Thiruvottiyur High Road and Arunachaleswarar Koil Street in Royapuram, say officials at the Special Projects Department.
Taken up as part of the World Bank’s Chennai City Partnership (CCP) programme, the project will not only focus on the above-ground infrastructure, but also on the redesign of the underground utilities, such as stormwater drains, rider water supply and sewerage lines, to ensure that there is no road cutting necessary for the next 30 years.
For this, stakeholders including different departments like Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) and Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), the public, the commercial establishments, the welfare associations, and residents along the stretch are consulted. It will also be designed after taking into consideration the needs for the next 30 years, the GCC says.
“We want to know their issues, concerns and expectations to address it in the design,” says a Special Projects department official, who did not wish to be named.
According to the officials at the department, the Tamil Nadu government had sanctioned Rs 100 crore initially, and the team is planning to request over Rs 200 crores more for the first phase. After the state exhibits its capacity after the completion of the first phase, the World Bank will fund the second phase.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)