TN appoints consultant to prepare economic development plan for CORR; Consultant to study operational feasibility of Metro along Outer Ring Road

C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI:

The state government has identified the future growth of Chennai to be along the Chennai Outer Ring Road and a blueprint will be worked out to develop one kilometre stretch on either side of Chennai Outer Ring Road (CORR). This comes as Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has awarded the contract to prepare detailed development plan to a Delhi-based firm Rudrabhishek Enterprises Limited for Rs 2.9 crore.

Apart from preparing the detailed development plan, the main objective of the consultant is to identify and delineate the suitable areas for implementation of Land Pooling Area Development Scheme (LAPDS) and to prepare economic development plan along the CORR growth corridor, official sources said.

This comes as CORR is being concieved by the government as a high-growth corridor with sustainable levels of density. Sources say that CORR will draw the business and industrial activities in and around Chennai due to better infrastructure and higher floor space index (FSI), enabling the supply of more floor space at cheaper rates and acting as a new agglomeration.

The idea is that seamless connectivity will offer reduced cost of transportation and the planned development of the corridor will attract not only business related investments but also create a demand for affordable housing and quality public spaces. The location of this corridor is likely to be ideal in terms of connectivity with Chennai's existing airport as well as the proposed location of the new airport in Parandur. It is learnt that the consultant will be studying the operational feasibility of metro or light rail or suburban train or tram or other modes of transit in the 22 metre central median of Outer Ring road.

Sources said that the economic plan for CORR should take into account the presence of growth centres, agglomerations around the core city but falling in the large metropolitan region. Sources said that by shifting the new growth towards CORR, a large green cover between the core city and corridor threatened by urban sprawl will be protected.

The consultant will be developing an overall framework for the sustainable economic development of the CORR growth corridor, the type and phasing of investments, and methods of implemebtation and establish the impact assessment of these investments on the local and regional economy.

Sources said that the city is already growing towards Old Mahabalipuram Road, GST Road and National Highway-4 which may witness land shortage for large scale developments. The CORR growth corridor is planned to cater to the requirements in the coming years. The consultant will also study the guideline value of the land parcels adjacent to the ORR as per the classification of the land, and market rates as per the latest registration details in the immediate vicinity of the land under study.
Factfile:
Total length of ORR: 62.3 km,
Width: 122 m
Lanes: Six
Service lanes: Two
Major junctions: 13
Underpasses : 58