Top govt officials take stock of shoreline renourishment project

CHENNAI: The State government has kick-started the Chennai Shoreline Renourishment and Revitalization Project as the first board meeting of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) constituted to implement the project was held on Wednesday at the State Secretariat.

According to a housing and urban development department source, housing secretary Apoorva, finance secretary T Udhayachandran, CMDA member-secretary Anshul Mishra and other senior officials, who are board members, participated in the meeting.

During the first meeting, officials discussed the progress of DPR (detailed project report) preparation works among others.

The government has announced the implementation of project at Rs 100 crore and recently constituted a SPV in the name ‘Chennai Shoreline Renourishment and Revitalization Project Limited’ to carry forward the project.

The government proposed to cover 31 km of shoreline between Marina and Kovalam but the CMDA decided to extend it upto Ennore Creek north of Marina Beach to cover a total shoreline of 51 km.

Initially, the 31 km of the project area was segregated into 5 sections to cover 5 themes. Shoreline between Marina and Santhome will have entertainment theme while the one between Besant Nagar and Tiruvanmiyur will cover health and lifestyle.

Shoreline between Neelankarai and Olive Beach will have environmental theme and between Akkarai and Uthandi it’d be art and culture. Shoreline between Muttukadu and Kovalam will have water sports facilities.

The CMDA has already commenced initial works to implement pilot projects between Neelankarai to Akkarai and Tiruvottiyur under the project. Recently, CMDA Minister PK Sekarbabu inspected the sites.

Under the pilot projects, the CMDA will create cycle tracks for 5 km between Neelankarai and Akkari at Rs 20 crore and Tiruvottiyur beachfront development project will be implemented for 3 km at Rs 30 crore. Consultants have already been invited to prepare DPRs for the pilot projects.