CHENNAI: After a series of legal hurdles and delays, the two decade old Outer Ring Road project is nearing completion and will pave the way for providing access to the proposed Rs 230 crore 'smart' Tidel Park in Pattabhiram.
Minister for Tamil Development, Tamil Culture and Archaeology, K Pandiarajan said the Outer Ring Road is key for the development of Tidel Park 3, which will come up on 5.57 lakh square feet in 10 acres of land at Pattabhiram and generate 25,000 jobs. The foundation stone for the park was laid in the presence of Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami through video conference.
"Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami has indicated that within three months the Outer Ring Road Project will be completed. For two years, the project was delayed. Now, the Madras High Court has passed a judgement over land acquisition. The 200 metres stretch will soon be completed. The entire process will take three months," said Pandiarajan while highlighting the importance of the Outer Ring Road for the project.
Noting that this is the first Tidel Park being developed by the AIADMK government, he said the earlier two were developed by the DMK governments in 1990 and 2000 and hoped the Outer Ring Road will be another IT Corridor for North Chennai as Rajiv Gandhi Salai has been for the IT sector in South Chennai.
This Tidel Park would be a smarter one based on the Internet of Things (IoT) concept and will have three blocks. The first block for which construction is to be started will be a 21-storied building which will also have a hanging garden. Later other structures including a cafeteria will be developed.
The project had been contemplated during the regime of then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and the then planning and development secretary S Krishnan has conceptualised it in 2016, said Pandiarajan.
The 44 acre piece of land for the project, which is likely to be completed in 24 months, is being cleared of shrubs and greenery. The state is planning to make use of the remaining 34 acres for the IT sector including Idex, an ecosystem that fosters innovation and technology development for defence and aerospace.
iDEX is aimed at creating an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia and provide them grants, funding and other support to carry out R&D development which has good potential to meet India's future defence and aerospace needs.
The minister also outlined that the IIT research park will also be developed. He also said that when the project was conceptualised Dell Technologies had plans to set up a data centre in the region. "The government will be in talks with Dell to find out whether they are still keen to invest in Pattabhiram Tidel Park," the minister said.