Expansion of boundaries: Chennai to be 2nd biggest after NCR, says report
Chennai: The proposed move to expand the boundaries of Chennai may sound grand but not much will change on the ground as the CMDA plan area will now expand to all of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur and parts of Vellore and Arakkonam.
However, if planned and executed well, the expansion can achieve numerous benefits including uniform development of the entire region, claims a study brought out by city-based think-tank Mylapore Institute for Policy Research (MIPR) promoted by India Cements Limited and How India Lives, a Delhi based startup that builds products and crafts solutions around the public data.
Chennai metropolitan area (CMA) will be second biggest after the National Capital Region in terms of geographical size if the plan on expansion of the city takes off, the findings of the study which was released here on Thursday said. The metropolitan area of the city would grow seven-fold to 8,878 sq km as the whole of Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and parts of Arakkonam and Nemili taluks in Vellore district would be included in its limits, the study said. Totally, 1,709 villages will be added to the CMA .
Once a modest 426 sq km in size, the CMA grew more than four-fold to 1,189 sq km in 1975 when parts of neighbouring Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts were merged. “If the proposed expansion goes through, only the NCR will be bigger than the southern metropolis with a total area of 53,817sqkm,” it said.
Currently, the area of Chennai is 1,189 sq km, Mumbai 4,354 sq km, Hyderabad 7,100 sq km and Bengaluru 8,005 sq km. The primary objective of the expansion is to ensure development takes place in a planned manner. The expansion would improve the living standard of people in the region. The Tamil Nadu government had in July 2017 announced a proposal to turn Chennai into a mega city and a few months later, the government notified the plan, the report said.
“With the Tamil Nadu government expanding the metropolitan area to include Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and parts of Vellore, we felt it was timely to assess the potential impact,” president of MIPR Shiv Kumar said.
The report has been compiled after extensive on-ground interviews with administrators, planning experts, industrialists and people living in the region, co-promoter and director of How India Lives John Samuel Raja said. If the expansion plan is implemented, it would ensure uniform development of the entire region, steady flow of investment and availability of basic infrastructure, among others, the report added.
MIPR’s recommendations are primarily aimed at making the idea of Greater Chennai truly work-generate employment, nurture environment, provide good quality housing and essential services and cerate efficient transport network, claimed V. Balasubra-manian, secretary, MIPR.
Interestingly, the proposed expansion will see the population of Chennai district which is now at 4.68 million, will increase to 11.8 million, going by the 2011 census. The migration to the city in search of better prospects has taken a heavy toll on the city’s resources. Through the expansion, the government hopes to reduce the pressure on the city by developing much wider areas in a planned and uniform manner.
