CMDA’s Rs 1.61L cr mobility plan gets State govt nod

Sources in the planning authority said that the CMP was prepared a few months ago and submitted for government approval. The final report was made public after the government finalised the report. “Though the plan is final, we are open to suggestions from the public, though only in certain areas,” said D Karthikeyan, member-secretary of CMDA.

The CMP has drawn a road map for transportation in the city till 2048 and the investment would be made for short term, medium and long term projects. According to the final report, more than 57 per cent of the transportation in Chennai Metropolitan Area would the public ones in 2048 if all aspects of the programme are implemented on time. Also, private transportation would be reduced to less than 39 per cent in the next 30 years and the average speed would reach 24 km/hour.

To attain these goals, the CMP proposes several projects for a total cost of Rs 1.61 lakh crores, which would be implemented by various agencies like Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (MTC) and the Greater Chennai Corporation by generating funds from government schemes as well as from private partnership.

As per the report, bus transport in the city has come down from 26 per cent in 2008 to 22.6 per cent in 2018, while car and two-wheeler transport went up to 7.1 per cent (6 per cent in 2008) and 29.6 per cent (25 per cent in 2008) in 2018.

CMP proposes 23 new rail-over bridges and rail-under bridges for improved connectivity in the city and 18 other locations, including Chennai Central, Parry’s Corner and others would be converted as pedestrian malls apart from multi-modal transportation hubs across the metropolitan area.