Environmental degradation is the inevitable outcome. A recent study sponsored by some IIT Madras alumni has found that on this road “encroachments on the banks of lakes, temple ponds and streams have increased and all this has led to shrinkage or complete disappearance of some local water bodies.” The fact is that the slum dwellers who were displaced to give way to the ‘world-class IT corridor project’, have now resorted to squatting, leading to the disappearance of 51 of the 153 water bodies and severe pollution of 56 others.

During the real estate boom a couple of years ego, the southern part of Chennai metropolis witnessed frenzied development. Most of it was anchored in the IT Corridor wherein about 15 million sq ft of commercial space and millions more of residential accommodation, including luxurious ‘gated communities’, came up. Parallel to this was East Coast Road (ECR), near the seabed, springing up fast as a ‘Recreation Corridor’ dotted with theme parks, hotels, resorts and restaurants.

Spread over an area of 182 sq km in 40 villages, the ‘twin corridors’ are predominantly rural. The total population of this stretch is about 300,000. The area has a fragile eco-system comprising the coastal belt with occasional sand dunes, backwater and creeks, wetlands/marshes and shallow aquifers. With the near-dead southern aquifer, the ‘twin corridors’ are severely water stressed and have no scope for generating drinking water even for its present population. In this ecologically sensitive zone, a high activity-centric population of 10,00,000 plus is being superimposed in the name of ‘development’, thereby creating a water demand of 150 MLD by 2011 for domestic use alone against the local availability of a mere 10 MLD!

This area has been facing slow, steady changes of urbanisation for several years, but the new development, accelerated through competitive pressure of serving the global market, and supported by the national, as well as the Tamil Nadu State government, has brought with it particular social and environmental conflicts. The poor-rich divide represents the social conflict and the acute water scarcity and vanishing water bodies reflect the environmental degeneration!

Indeed, the environmental cost of fast-track urbanisation of the ‘Southern Side’ of Chennai has been huge. Severe erosion of water resource base is taking place due to unabated extraction bordering on water mining and rapid aquifer/ground water depletion without corresponding recharge. There are hardly any efforts towards restoration of silted reservoirs, abandoned/encroached water bodies, polluted watercourses and disappearing wetlands. Poor quality of water due to contamination, salinity and seawater intrusion is adding to the crisis. The quite burial given to the ‘southern aquifer’ some months ago with the lifting of construction ban on the ECR and the recent action of the CMDA in notifying the coastal areas of Kottivakkam, Palavakkom, Nilangarai and Uthandi as CRZ II would further worsen the situation.

As solution, the State government is offering a high-cost mega seawater desalination plant at Nemeli without ascertaining as to whether this alternative is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable in a hot, humid and poor region like Chennai. Rural population, who are fast losing their traditional access to safe drinking water because of depletion of ground water resources, cannot access the high-cost desalinated water, which is meant for affluent industries and ‘gated communities’. This is the manifestation of rural-urban fragmentation in peri-urban Chennai that could lead to acceleration of social conflicts.

CMDA’s urban development model has to be environmentally sustainable and should have least impact on its natural resource base — air quality, reservoirs, streams and rivers, ground water, aquifers, agricultural land, marsh/wetlands, vegetation, coastal ecology — and on the quality of life of its citizens. This calls for area/corridor wise Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and comprehensive Environment Management Plan (EMP) to guide and direct the urban development model.

A feeble attempt was made towards this by the government in mid-2005 when the State’s Environment Department decided to conduct EIA for the ‘twin corridors’ and prepare an EMP with the aim of ensuring their sustainability. The Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University, and SUSTAIN, an environment-focused NGO, were co-opted in this effort. When this was reported in the press, the government beat a hasty retreat and the initiative was abandoned!

The ‘twin corridors’, particularly the OMR, was an upstart ‘development’ without any concept, plan or EIA. Perhaps it is condemned to remain that way! As regards sustainability, it does not appear to be on anyone’s agenda?