With a view to being future-ready, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) is contemplating taking its phase II project to Tirumazhisai, where a satellite township has been in the making for two decades.
With Chennai Metro’s phase II project set to begin with JICA committing over ₹20,000 crore in funds, the CMRL top brass has started exploring the feasibility of taking the Metro to Tirumazhisai, located 30 km to the city’s west.
‘Nascent stage’
“It is at a very nascent stage now. But we will see how far it is feasible to carry out the plan. In the future, when the satellite township comes through, perhaps the link to Chennai Metro will be useful,” an official said.
Work on the satellite township — announced two decades ago to give the poor and the middle class access to affordable housing— has not begun yet.
Planned at an estimated cost of ₹2,160 crore, the township will have 12,000 flats on 311 acres of land of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board.
As the township lies in the flood plains, a controversy had erupted after the 2015 floods. The township as of now remains largely on paper due to problems with land acquisition.
If the township does comes up in the future, CMRL will take an extension from the Poonamallee station till Tirumazhisai, as part of the phase II project.
This stretch would cover areas like Nazarathpet and Chembarambakkam, CMRL officials added.
Good for students
It would also be beneficial to students, as it would go past engineering colleges like Rajalakshmi Institute of Technology, Panimalar Engineering College and Sree Sastha College of Engineering, officials added.
The Poonamallee Metro station is the terminal station on the Light House-Poonamallee stretch, one of three stretches planned under the phase II project of the Metro.
