Finance minister D Jayakumar.

 

CHENNAI: Road infrastructure
is set to get a fillip in the city, as the state government on Thursday
allocated Rs 400 crore under the Chennai Mega City Development Mission
(CMCDM) in its budget 2017-2018. This fund has been provided separately
for completion of spillover work under this scheme, said finance
minister D Jayakumar in the Tamil Nadu assembly in his maiden budget.
Cities selected under Smart City Mission, including corporation of
Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur and Vellore, have
received Rs 1,200cr -an increase from last year’s allocation. In
Chennai, the centre’s initiative will be implemented in T Nagar.

Since the CMCDM scheme’s launch in 2011 after the expansion of the
city, the state government has allotted Rs 500 crore which the Greater
Chennai Corporation and Metrowater shared to carry out work on roads,
pavements, bus shelters, street lights, drinking water, sewerage
networks, sanitation and storm water drains. Over the last five years,
the corporation has extensively used these funds to spruce up roads in
bitumen and concrete in extended areas of the city such as in
Madhavaram, Perungudi and Alandur.

 

Top corporation officials view this as an opportunity to continue to
concentrate in the outlying areas. “We have used more than Rs 1,400
crore under this scheme over the last five years to primarily
concentrate on interior roads newly added areas,” said a senior
official. “There is still a lot of road work left to be completed in
residential neighbourhoods.” The official said that among the recently
re-laid 194 high-quality bus route roads which have withstood monsoon
rains, 149 roads were laid using Rs 322 crore from this scheme. “We will
barely have less than a dozen arterial roads that require relaying.
Most of them are in good condition so we may add pavements,” the
official said.