Makeover for Marina before GIM

Chennai: Early morning strollers to the Marina Beach on Friday may find that a bit more than just the air quality having changed from the day before. It is because the Chennai Corporation would have quietly executed an overnight makeover operation to beautify the Marina Beach service road, which includes re-laying a portion of it with a fresh coat of bitumen.

The corporation has engaged contractors to relay the stretch between Vivekanandar Illam and Light House with modular waste bins resembling bird houses to replace the generic green bins in this portion.

The stretch between Light House and Vivekanandar Illam gains importance as the state government is also setting up an exhibition stage near the Gandhi statue to broadcast digital films on industrial scope and growth in Tamil Nadu. The exhibition will be attended by foreign delegates and already an area of 200 m radius around the stage (Light House till Queen Mary's College) has been cordoned off from public use.

The exhibition, organised by event management company Wizcraft International, will be a pre and post-GIM affair. "The exhibition will run from September 8 until 12. It will not have cultural programmes but will showcase the industrial growth possibilities in Tamil Nadu," said a Wizcraft representative.

On Thursday, workers with road drilling machines were found working on the barriers that separate the sandy portion of the beach and the service road.

"We have been asked to repair the damaged barriers and replace the broken ones. We were told that foreigners will be travelling on this route which is why we have to get it aligned correctly," said one of the workers. The work on repairing the barrier is being undertaken at an approximate cost of Rs 5 lakh, a site supervisor said. He added that workers have been engaged since Wednesday on non-stop eight-hour shifts starting at 10 pm until 5 am to finish the work. "We have very little time on our hands. We were told to wrap up in three days flat," said the supervisor, requesting anonymity. Vendors on the Marina who were reassigned places recently by the Corporation so as to provide beachgoers a better view of the Bay of Bengal, are also likely to be shifted again.

Due to the exhibition stage coming up for foreign delegates to witness and revel in, the vendors occupying the portion opposite the Light House are likely to be moved elsewhere.