So, there ‘is’ a plan after all!!!
I just stumbled across this site of CMDA. It seems, they do have a plan for Chennai and related development activities. I was really surprised to see that they have plans till 2026. Wow! I didn’t know India was that far-sighted. In the society around us we see so much confusion and chaos that we often lose track of the future. We see the *system* failing miserably at every instance of life here.
They are calling this plan – SECOND MASTER PLAN. The pessimist in me wonders what happened to the First Master Plan. Wonder if it was fully executed.
Vision 2026 is to make Chennai a prime metropolis which will be more livable, economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable and with better assets for the future generations.
Excerpt from the Introduction document
TOC of Second Master Plan
I found more interesting stuff on the site. Some of these stuff actually gives us hope to continue living in Chennai. Checkout the following links for what you can probably expect in the coming years.
- KOYAMBEDU WHOLESALE MARKET
- DEVELOPMENT OF WHOLESALE FOODGRAINS MARKET
- TEXTILE MARKET
- BIO-METHANATION POWER PLANT PROJECT
- SATHANGADU IRON & STEEL MARKET
- DEVELOPMENT OF SATELLITE TOWN AT MARAIMALAINAGAR
- MADHAVARAM BUS AND TRUCK TERMINAL
- CHENNAI MUFUSSIL BUS TERMINAL (CMBT) AT KOYAMBEDU
- CHENNAI CONTRACT CARRIAGE BUS TERMINUS
- MULTI-LEVEL CAR PARKING COMPLEXES
- MRTS
- AIR SPACE EXPLOITATION OVER MRTS STATIONS IN PHASE-II
- OUTER RING ROAD
- TAMILNADU URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT –III
- LOCAL BODIES ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME
- COMMUNITY BASED ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME
I am really glad that atleast the plans exist. It’s of course an entirely different issue whether anybody is looking at those plans and acting by it.
I was really surprised to see that they have plans till 2026.
Why were you surprised? Like someone mentioned of the comments section in another post, EVERYBODY (the Govt., the corporation, etc.) has a plan. They have a plan, they estimate the cost to be some 4-5 figure value (speaking in crores, that is), and give a date of completion. That’s the easy part. It’s only when they execute the idea ON TIME does one needs to be surprised.
An article in today’s The Hindu quotes T.R.Baalu saying that the Kathipara flyover will be completed by March, next year. Yeah, right…let’s see about that!
i think this is a fantastic post in all sense and yes i am surprised.
we dont have any skyscrapers or any skyline to speak of.. how boring… wonder when they will plan to get that.
also, whatever happened to the idea of intra city expressways? is there any plan on that front?
I wish that they plan something about the parking (or lack of) within the city.
They also need to execute effective public transport projects within the city. That’s the only way to reduce the congestion within the city.
I wish that they plan something about the parking (or lack of) within the city.
They also need to execute effective public transport projects within the city. That’s the only way to reduce the congestion within the city.
@Sankar… Check out the Multilevel car parking plans…. http://www.cmdachennai.org/multilevel_car_parking.html
SECOND MASTER PLAN. The pessimist in me wonders what happened to the First Master Plan. Wonder if it was fully executed.
Ze First Master Plan vas proposed by ze Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, and it infolfed the extermination of ze Jews. Though ze Fuehrer himself would haf called it “execution”. Yes, Ze Master Plan for Ze Master Race. CMDA names its plans very vell indeed.
That you didn’t know of the Master Plan reflects two things –
1. How little attention you pay to Chennai development – the master plan has been in the news for months now. There have been several rounds of discussion regarding its provisions. These have been featured in The Hindu on multiple occasions since, I’d like to say, March or April.
2. The poor visibility of CMDA. Their website has not been updated in about 8-9 months now. God knows when they’re going to do that.
Chennai cannot hope to be a flourishing city, whatever plans and vision people may develop for it. The first introduction to the city is the stink, and then when and after you arrive, pretty much everything stinks…from the attitude of the auto richshaw drivers to the xenophobic crowd. Yes, the foreigners are more welcome because they bring in the moolah…and yes, even the auto driver suddenly knows all the English keywords. Dudes, the first plan to change the city should start with the mindset of the people.
@Navaneethan Santhanam: I agree that the post above is kind of untimely and a bit too late to be posting . Actually, I hadn’t known about this ‘plan’ till now. And when I did come to know about it, I discussed it with a few colleagues of mine and many of them hadn’t heard about it. So, I guess I am not alone in being so ignorant :). Anyway, Hope that this post helped increase the visibility of the CMDA site at least a little bit.
Known this for some time. But i think this is an excellent post to bring out the highlights. Multi-level parking is i think a very much eagerly awaited development. But this might mean reduction in the city’s already dwindling green cover. Hope they apply some common sense and strike a balance, instead of something like the cutting down of trees on Sardar Patel road. The Drainage System improvements also invoke dreams of Wonderful inland waterways in the city. Hope the ‘Sabarmati’ example is followed here.