The Hindu 31.08.2009
Will a bigger civic body improve management?
A. Srivathsan and Aloysius Xavier Lopez
| Some officials are of opinion that any further increase in size will be unwieldy |
— Photo: N.Sridharan 
ROAD AHEAD: The proposed expansion of the municipal limits of Chennai will offer both challenges and opportunities.
CHENNAI: From a small city with 5 lakh population spread over 71 sq.km in 1919, Chennai has now spread to 174 sq.km with a population of about 4.3 million (as per 2001 census). The population is only expected to grow further and reach 5.8 million by 2026. Will the extent of the city also grow along with it? Will a bigger city corporation ensure better management and planning of civic amenities?
What is the optimum size of the city is a question that remains unanswered . Should it be big enough to take advantage of the economies of scale, mobilise resources and be fit to compete with other larger cities for better ranking and funding.
A senior official of the CMDA said, “We want Chennai to be ranked higher among all the cities in the country in all aspects of an urban area. A largest possible area for the newly delineated greater Chennai will be one of the better options.”
On the other hand, should the city’s size be small enough to ensure better management, improve political representation and participation, and escape the ill effects of congestion and over crowding. There has not been a single prescription that fits all the cities.
In order to address some of these issues, the government of Tamil Nadu had a few years ago set up a committee to examine the possible delineation of new corporations. The alternatives recommended by this committee were put up for public consultations in 2008 and early 2009.
The committee, in its final recommendation submitted on August 18, asked the State government to choose either a greater Chennai Corporation spread over an area of 800 sq.km similar to the large city corporations of Hyderabad (650 sq.km) and Bangalore (700 sq.km) or expand the city to a limited size of 420 sq.km and create two new Corporations with Avadi and Tambaram as headquarters.
The second option includes municipalities such as Ambattur and Alandur and the expanded Chennai will have Semancheri as its southern limit and Tiruvottiyur and Kathivakkam as its northern limit.
The other two corporations, Chennai-Avadi and Chennai-Tambaram would cover about 150 sq.km and 200 sq.km respectively.
Niranjan Mardi, Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, said, “The increase in area of the municipal corporation limit or the creation of new corporations on the outskirts will improve the infrastructure of the outlying areas. It would also lead to more coordination of massive infrastructure projects in various parts of the suburbs.” He further added that the “people on the suburbs are entitled to better service delivery and the final decision would certainly respond to this.”
Another important reason behind the proposal to create new corporations, as one government official explained, is that the fragmented local bodies will not be helpful in generating funds for investment and will not have the viable population size to implement projects such as upgraded water supply and sewage network. The government, he added, is inclined towards bigger size with larger resource base.
Some officials are of the opinion that any further increase in the size of Chennai Corporation will be unwieldy and cannot be managed. They add that “the costs are high and increasing the size further would lead to inefficiency.”
One of the challenges would be the issue of representation. The merger of local bodies would bring down the number of elected representatives and those who have been functioning independently as chairman would have to function as councillors.
There is also a third view which does not find mention in the report. A few government officials think that the poor state of suburbs is due to the failure of regional plan and the lack of adequate investment in the suburbs. Hence, expanding the limits of the city is not a good answer, they said.
However, creating local bodies for the sole purpose of making them creditworthy and thereby obtain more funds would not do them good in the long run. In the short term it may enhance property values, but issues of poor resource base will certainly affect their operation, the officials said. A well developed city such as Chennai needs less capital expenditure while the new ones will need large investments that will serve relatively lower density of population.
In the public consultations on the delineation held, in Ambattur and Tambaram, residents from the suburbs expressed that they were ready to embrace the idea of more corporations. Some even demanded that instead of three corporations, five be set up. This proposal, for many, is an opportunity to get better services. However, what is now proposed was not among the options that were discussed.
The various contesting viewpoints of experts are under government’s consideration. Whatever be the decision the priority would be to make Chennai a better city in terms of solid waste management, infrastructure and delivery of services, according to Mr. Mardi.
