Deccan Chronicle 24.12.2009

AC community hall project on slow track

Dec. 23: Chennai corporation last year announced that it would construct two air-conditioned community auditoriums at a cost of Rs 16 crore with a seating capacity of 1,000 members each, with parking facility to accommodate more than 100 cars, but the projects have hit a speed-breaker due to official apathy and bureaucratic procedures.

Chennai mayor M. Subramanian last June announced that the three-storied buildings would come up on a sprawling 60,000 sq ft area. One auditorium would be built at posh Anna Nagar for south Chennai and the other, near Basin Bridge for north Chennai, he said.

Though the final design and technical specifications for the halls were ready last year and work on the Anna Nagar auditorium started a year ago, the project is scheduled for completion only by the end of next year, sources said.

A senior corporation official said work at the Anna Nagar auditorium was in fu-ll swing. The Basin Bridge auditorium is yet to be started as the corporation zonal office located on the site has to be shifted. The shifting has already begun and civil work will begin by June.

Most of the auditoriums and community halls in Chennai lack adequate parking space resulting in traffic chaos whenever events are held. In these auditoriums, besides regular parking on the ground floor, an additional stilt floor is planned exclusively for parking.

On completion, the auditoriums will be available to the public at a reasonable tariff, the official added.