CHENNAI: Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has appointed three teams consisting of tahsildars, revenue and survey inspectors, to assess government land within 1 km on either side along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) for commercial development. The planning agency hopes to unlock 2,500 acres in the stretch between Minjur to Pammadukulam, Vellanur to Varadharajapuram and Nazarathpet to Vandalur.
This comes after Tamil Nadu Housing Minister S Muthusamy had earlier announced that CMDA is planning to commercially develop a two-km stretch of land along ORR under the land pooling scheme.
A Shankar, Chief Operating Officer, Strategic Consulting and Valuation, JLL West Asia said, “Infrastructure especially road connectivity is key to any development and the proposed acquisition of land for commercial purpose is a move in the right direction.”
“However, there needs a careful understanding of product mix derived from demand dynamics. The model has to be an intergrated development with commercial activities along with residential zones. Also, there should be buffer zones along roads for further road expansion along with reserved land for recreation and open spaces to achieve more sustainable and inclusive development and to attract private developers,” he said.
CMDA is hiring a consultant for the preparation of a Detailed Development Plan (DDP) for the ORR growth corridor. Sources said the consultant will identify and delineate suitable areas for the implementation of the Land Pooling Area Development Scheme (LPADS), which is yet to be implemented and an economic development plan. The consultant will also study the guideline value of the land parcels adjacent to the ORR as per the classification of the land, and market rates as per the latest registration details near the land under study.
Currently, the land cost per acre in ORR is Rs 2 crore while near the road junction it is Rs 3 crore. However, the place from where the ORR starts it is around Rs 10 to Rs 12 crore per acre, said Srinivas Akinipatti, senior director, Tamil Nadu & Kerala, Knight Frank India.
Anikapatti said CMDA is currently doing a feasibility study of the area. Stating that the biggest challenge for Chennai is the availability of land for development, he said, “Any initiative by the government over releasing such pockets of land is a boon. The city needs to expand. We lost out to Bengaluru and are ranked next to Hyderabad over the expansion of the city. The government is creating land supply and we should welcome it,” he said.
Sources said the entire process to unlock the land parcels in ORR will take more than six months following which a Government Order could be issued.