More than just a town

The proposed township at Chengalpattu has generated a lot of interest among residents, who believe it will put the nondescript town on a prominent path of redevelopment on all fronts and bring it on a par with the core Chennai city. The challenges for the State government will be to ensure that the development is holistically planned and well executed, with adequate contingencies in place for any eventuality

For long, Chengalpattu has remained in the shadow of Kancheepuram despite witnessing phenomenal residential and industrial growth thanks to its good connectivity with Chennai through Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road. Not much changed even after July 2019, when the then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami approved the formation of the new Chengalpattu district and made the eponymous town its headquarters.

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has proposed the formation of five new townships on the peripheries of the expanded Chennai city region, which covers 5,094 sq.km. Of the five new towns, Chengalpattu town is the largest. Through this, the CMDA hopes to reign in the unbridled construction activities and unorganised infrastructure development and develop the town on its terms. The State government has also given its assent for the preparation of a master plan for the two townships of Chengalpattu and Thirumazhisai and issued Government Orders (G.O.s). The CMDA is awaiting G.O.s for three more townships — Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Minjur — which they expect to be published by the end of this year.

Anshul Mishra, Member Secretary, CMDA, explained the details of the new master plan for Chengalpattu. He said the New Town Development Plan has considered creating the township comprehensively and holistically, fulfilling the socio-economic and environmental criteria. The infrastructure development in the town will happen in an orderly fashion and not as and when needs arise. He said all these years, the authority had been developing facilities based on the individual requirement of localities, but this time, it had a holistic and sustainable road map planned for the new township.

Measuring a mere 6 sq.km in 1974, Chengalpattu is set to house the district headquarters and expand to cover 136 sq.km. The new town will include 60 other villages in Thirukazhukundram, Thiruporur and Chengalpattu taluks.

Mr. Mishra said the initial survey conducted by the CMDA had found the new township would have 22% of forested areas, 8% waterbodies and the remaining 70% land area. The New Town Development Plan will rectify the haphazard growth that has already occurred due to a lack of application in planning strategies.

With Chengalpattu already having good road and rail infrastructure in addition to several infrastructure projects in the execution and planning stages, the plan aims to integrate them all into its overall vision. It will also tap into the potential of residential, commercial, industrial and institutional activities in an organised manner along GST Road, Chengalpattu-Thiruporur corridor and Chengalpattu-Walajabad corridor. This will help regulate development, and the successful integration of Mahindra City into the township will be an added attraction.

The authority has found that currently, the structure lacks major economic activities and the presence of hillocks along the major road corridors hampers the growth of townships. CMDA will take up multi-sectoral integration to create a well-connected road grid, augment water resources, provide segregated solid waste management, help in heritage conservation and tourism and look at waterfront development. Above all, climate-resilient aspects will also be factored in.