Chennai Peripheral Road To Boost City's Real Estate

The proposed Chennai Peripheral Road (CPR), which will connect the Ennore Port with Thatchur on the National Highway 5, is expected to provide relief to citizens from the rising heavy traffic situation by expanding the radial-ring road network of the city. The project has an estimated cost of Rs 12,500 crore. The construction work will start in 2020.

Key facts

Spanning a total length of 162 kilometre and width of 100 metre, the Chennai Peripheral Road will have a six-lane carriageway and two service lanes on either side, along with interchanges and bridges. Since the CPR serves many industrial hubs, it will also have a three-metre wide space on both sides for a utility corridor to carry oil and gas pipelines.

Designed as an access-controlled highway, the corridor will have access facilities, pedestrian facilities, lighting, truck parking, bus bays and rest areas including fuel stations.

Impact on connectivity

At present, the major arterial road network that serves the Chennai Metropolitan Area includes national highways 5, 205, 4 and 45 that form the major radial roads, the Inner Ring Road (IRR), the Chennai Bypass and the Outer Ring Road (ORR) as ring roads. The Peripheral Road is going to connect four national highways (NH 5, NH 205, NH 4 and NH 45) and eight state highways (SH 51, SH 50A, SH-50, SH-48, SH-57, SH-49B, SH-49A - OMR and SH-49 (the East Coast Road).

The new route will link Mahabalipuram at the Poonjeri Junction to the Ennore Port via localities such as Singaperumalkoil, Sriperumbudur, Thiruvallur, Thamaraipakkam, Periyapalayam, Puduvoyal and Kattupalli.

Most of the traffic between the southern districts to Ennore Port involves huge container movement which is likely to get streamlined once the project is operational.

Impact on real estate

Besides improving accessibility in the neighbouring industrial hubs and augmenting regional economic growth, the Chennai Peripheral Road will give rise to new realty hotspots. From an investment perspective, the advantages are many.

Some of the localities that CPR will pass through established real estate destinations. For instance, Singaperumal Koil is a thriving automotive and IT hub and also a sought-after residential area with property prices witnessing a steady rise in recent years and presently having an average value of Rs 3,700 per sqft. Lying along the Chennai-Bangalore highway, Sriperumbudur is another well-developed locality known for its business hubs and SEZs and attracts investors for its property values. The current average price of a residential property is Rs 2,800 per sqft. The Sriperumbudur-Oragadam belt is another prominent industrial pocket buzzing with new developments. Furthermore, the stretch of land around Tiruvottiyur - Ponneri - Panchetti have garnered the attention of developers since the time the project was proposed in 2007. The area is likely to see further growth in the future.