The Hindu 23.03.2010
Minister reiterates need for a satellite city
Staff Reporter
CHENNAI: There is a pressing need for establishing a satellite city for Chennai, Minister for Information and Urban Development Parithi Ellamvazhuthi said here on Monday.
Speaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a Truck Parking Yard at Koyambedu, he said, “The government has the obligation of creating basic infrastructure facilities for regulating urban development.”
When the government proposed a satellite city a few years ago, it was opposed by some persons. The people, however, “taught them a lesson” in the subsequent election, he said.
On the proposed truck parking yard, he said the facility, to be constructed by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority near the Koyambedu Wholesale Market, is expected to relieve traffic congestion in the area. “It will be completed by the end of this year,” Mr. Ellamvazhuthi said.
A 7.62-acre land had been earmarked for the parking yard, which would have 193 parking bays. The facility would include toilet blocks, a restaurant, halls where the crew can rest, lorry booking offices, service shops, and security cabins.
CMDA vice-chairperson Susan Mathew said the design of parking yard was suggested by the students of the School of Architecture and Planning of Anna University.
After using the truck bays in the market to unload the produce, over 400 trucks are parked haphazardly along the nearby roads resulting in traffic congestion, a CMDA official said.
A total of 3,194 shops in the complex attract more than one lakh customers a day. The trucks, many of them carrying agricultural produce from other States, are being parked on Outer Ring Road, Poonamallee High Road and other roads near the bus terminus.
Merchants of the 1,449 vegetable shops, 779 fruit shops and 458 flower shops have also been demanding a yard, the CMDA official said.
With the proposed facilities such as grain market and metro rail yard expected to be constructed shortly, the truck parking yard had become a necessity, said the official. CMDA Member-Secretary Vikram Kapur participated.
