CHENNAI: The new transport roadmap for Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) will be prepared using a $400 million grant from World Bank under the project ‘Chennai City Partnership - urban mobility and spatial development in Chennai Metropolitan Area’, said Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) special officer I Jayakumar.
The Department of Economic Affairs recently gave clearance to Tamil Nadu’s proposal for seeking a $400 million grant from World Bank for safe, green, resilient, inclusive and citizen-responsive urban mobility under the project. The total cost of the project is $572 million.
The objective of the project is to develop an integrated city masterplan and neighbourhood plans leveraging on mass transit investments besides developing CUMTA’s capacity for coordinating, planning and funding urban mobility.
The project also envisages establishing digital solutions for urban mobility like common ticketing and integrated planning of urban infrastructure besides improving multi-modal transport service and non-motorised transport. The clearance from DEA comes after CUMTA selected Systra as a consultant last week for revising the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for CMA.
However, clearance is also subject to suggestions from the Niti Aayog and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Niti Aayog has suggested a road safety action plan besides designing streets with a pedestrian-first principle. It has also suggested prioritising and incentivising clean fuel technology for public transport.