Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday unveiled new housing and infrastructure projects at a cost of over Rs 1000 crore mainly for Chennai.
The projects include a 222-acre self-sufficient habitation at Kadambur near Maraimalai Nagar, reconstruction of 534 Slum Clearance Board flats at Nochikuppam and 10,000 flats in Chennai and other cities.
Ms. Jayalalithaa told the Assembly that the projects were necessary to keep pace with urbanisation and to meet the requirements of ever-increasing population.
She said that under the slum-free city scheme implemented jointly by the State government and the Centre, 10,000 flats in multi-storey buildings would be constructed in Chennai and other cities in the first phase.
The project cost is Rs 825 crore and 50 per cent of the funds would come from the Centre and 40 per cent from the State government. The beneficiaries would bear just 10 per cent of the cost.
The Chief Minister said she had increased the area of every flat to 397 sq feet last year and now it would further be increased to 400 sq feet. Besides ceiling fans and electric lights, the flats would get all the basic amenities including street-lights, drinking water supply, sewage canals and other social infrastructure.
Her government had decided to construct 534 new flats in Nochikuppam in the place of old flats which were now in a bad shape. These flats were constructed in 1972 by the Slum Clearance Board and the occupants had requested her to construct new buildings, she said, adding that the project cost was Rs. 48.06 crore, Each flat would be 400 sq ft and would have a muti-purpose hall, a kitchen, a bedroom, a toilet and a balcony. The construction work would begin after obtaining permission from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and the Lighthouse Authority and would strictly adhere to the rules of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).
Ms. Jayalalithaa said houses would be given to the existing allottees and extended families would get accommodation at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam. In Kadambur village near Maraimalai Nagar, the government would convert the existing 58-acre lake as a water source for the new habitation. People from all income groups would get allocation here.
She said the new multi-storey building planned at Koyambedu would accommodate the CMDA and other government offices. The building would have 3 basements, a stilt floor and 8 floors covering over 1.9 lakh sq feet and the investment for the project was Rs 63.25 crore. The government has also decided to construct an official complex atop the Velacherry MRTS station at a cost of Rs 40 crore. Seven subways would be constructed here at a cost of Rs 23 crore, she said. They would come up near the Gandhi statue on the Marina, on Gangatheeswararkoil Street at Purasawalkam, NSK Salai at Vadapalani, Ayanavam-Konnur Highway, Kodambakkam Meenakshi College road, Metro Railway Station on the inner ring road in Arumbakkam and Alandur.
