Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

`Improvement in infrastructure must to attract investors'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI OCT. 22 . The key to attracting investors to Chennai was to effect a dramatic improvement in infrastructure and attitude, the CMDA chief urban planner, Anantha Ranjan Doss, told builders, engineers and architects at a meeting on Monday.

"If investors do not come here there will be no jobs and there will be no buildings to construct. Attracting investors depends on how we treat them and how fast we process plans. Construction is a fundamental indicator of the well-being of the economy and every day's delay sets back investments into the city. The way we develop our city is a reflection of our attitude and culture."

Mr. Doss said the second Master Plan for Chennai was being prepared incorporating many innovative and dynamic strategies for urban development. Giving an indication of the possible constitution of the draft, he said it would factor in for the economy, informal sector and even heritage, and incorporate dynamic concepts like urbanisable land use. The plan would soon be ready for implementation.

The plan was scheduled to be prepared about 10 years ago but was held back by litigation. "We had thought then that the population would increase by five per cent; we did not expect it to go up by 500 per cent. We are reworking the calculations."

The meeting was organised by the Tamil Nadu chapters of The Association of Licensed Engineers and Architects (Association of LEA) and The Indian Institute of Architects (IIA).

On behalf of the IIA, its chairman, J. Manoharan, extended support to the CMDA for making the second Master Plan a reality. He asked the CMDA to issue completion certificates with reference to compliance with development control rules than just with the approved plan, as was being done now. Another participant seconded his suggestion saying that minor changes during constructions were inevitable, so the authorities should issue completion certificates despite such deviations as long as the constructions did not violate building rules.

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