Chennai Metropolitan Area Set To Expand
Boundaries of the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) are set to be redefined with the territory likely to become the second largest in terms of geographical size after the National Capital Region (NCR) , according to a study conducted by The Mylapore Institute for Policy Research promoted by India Cements Limited. The city will undergo a seven-fold expansion to an area of 8,878 sq km with the inclusion of the whole of Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and parts of Arakkonam and Nemili taluks in Vellore district under its limits.
With the merging of the core city with its surrounding hinterlands, the expansion will pave way for better planning and urban development.
Here's everything about Tamil Nadu government’s city expansion plan:
The objective
In January 2018, a few months after it announced the proposal in July 2017, the state government notified the plan to turn Chennai into a mega city. On July 3, 2017, the government’s Minister For Housing and Urban Development, Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan, had announced the plans for expansion of CMA as per the proposal made by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) in July 2012.
The CMDA realised the need for expansion after observing rapid developments happening in neighbouring settlements such as Maraimalai Nagar, Sriperumbudur, Kelambakkam and Tiruvallur. As mentioned in the report, the main objective of this decision is to ensure that development takes place in a planned manner.
The rate of urbanisation in Chennai is not as rapid as in Bengaluru or Mumbai. Yet the move will mean a lot of benefits for the people of the region. The authority had established its goals which included:
- Dispersing the anticipated rise in population which is estimated to rise to about 12.5 million by 2026.
- Distributing the city’s physical growth over a larger area for cutting down economic and environmental costs.
- Enhanced living standards of people by ensuring uniform development, involving creation of jobs, economic development, steady flow of investments and availability of basic infrastructure across the region.
Moreover, conservation of sensitive environment areas, water resources and agricultural areas will be done more effectively. Real estate activity in the newly added areas and land values are also expected to rise.
Important facts
- The Mylapore Institute for Policy Research, which compiled the report after extensive interviews with administrators, planning experts, industrialists and natives of the region, is also analysing the potential impact of the expansion. The city-based think tank has collaborated with How India Lives - a start-up specialising in gathering public data for preparing the report.
- The last expansion the Chennai metropolitan area had undergone was in 1975, a year after it was first defined in 1974. The area of the Metro city received a four-fold expansion from an area of 426 sq km to 1,189 sq km.
- Chennai’s first master plan, notified in August 1975, resulted in the city’s expansion from 174 sq km to 1189 sq km encompassing Chennai Corporation, eight Municipalities, 11 town panchayats and 179 villages across 10 panchayat unions.
- Around 1,700 villages will be urbanised and integrated with the city of Chennai. The CMA will then have an area larger than that of Bengaluru (8,005 sq km) , Hyderabad (7,100 sq km) and Greater Mumbai (4,355 sq km) .
- The boundaries of the respective urban local bodies will remain unchanged.
- Tax rates levied by local governments will remain unchanged.