CHENNAI: The metropolitan city of Chennai, home to the oldest municipal corporation in the world, is set to become a true megapolis, the biggest in the country, by amalgamating neighbouring districts and even Arakkonam Taluk to form a 8,878 sq km metropolitan area.
The proposal to expand the Chennai Metropolitan Area to encompass the whole of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts and Arakkonam Taluk in Vellore district is likely to get the green signal from the State government soon.
Currently, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region, which was formed combining the four districts of Rangareddy, Mahboobnagar, Nalgonda and Medak, is the largest metro area with 7,222 sq km under its jurisdiction. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has the second largest area of 4,355 sq km.
At present, Chennai Metropolitan Area is 1,189 sq km, to which 7,700 sq km would be added, making it the biggest. In fact, such would be the proposed size of the area that it would be bigger than even the London Metropolitan Area which is a little over 8,300 sq km. “We are working on something like Chennai Capital Region Development Authority, similar to that of the National Capital Region in New Delhi,” an official source told Express. This could also mean enacting a separate act like that of National Capital Region and Bengaluru Regional Planning Authority Act, and would have a separate institutional set up higher than the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).
The objective of expanding the metro region is to earmark areas for economic development, generate employment, provide infrastructure integrated with major land use patterns to serve the region, besides a system of hierarchy of settlements in the whole region, assessing their development potential, and assigning future population and activities for further growth.
The huge expansion could pose a formidable challenge for the authorities on regulating development in such a vast area. Sources pointed out that though Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act provides for constitution of a regional planning authority, it will be grossly inadequate for the proposed Chennai Mega Regional Planning and Development Authority.