The civic body is spending big on developing civic infrastructure, especially the road network, in the city.
As the financial year ends, the Chennai Corporation’s expenditure on development of civic infrastructure has touched an all-time high of Rs. 1,392 crore, nearly twice the amount spent during the previous fiscal.
“This is around 97 per cent higher than the Rs. 705 crore spent on civic infrastructure in 2012-’13,” said a senior official of the Corporation.
The civic body has spent majorly on road infrastructure by utilising Rs. 555 crore — about forty per cent of its capital expenditure. A major revamp of the road network is under way in many parts of the city.
Development of stormwater drains has been undertaken at a cost of Rs. 260 crore, and streetlights at Rs. 102 crore. The civic body has also spent Rs. 28 crore on improving parks.
The Corporation council had proposed to develop as many as 18,000 interior roads last year. A few days before notification of the Lok Sabha elections, the Corporation council passed a resolution for the development of 10,000 roads.
Work on installing LED streetlights, ranging from 6-9 metres in height, is also under way in many of the zones.
“The per capita expenditure on civic infrastructure in the city is around Rs. 2,000 in 2013-2014. We have implemented the work with a limited number of engineers to prepare estimates for the works. Chennai has 285 employees per a lakh of the population. But cities such as London have 2,755 employees per a lakh citizens,” said a civic official, hinting at the need to hire more.
