CHENNAI: Following two years of spending nearly ₹3,000 crore and accumulating a deficit of ₹1,500 crore, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has resolved to cease construction activities and refocus on its primary responsibilities of urban planning and approvals.
During the past two years, CMDA financed various projects including the Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam, Mudhalvarin Padaipagams, and several bus terminuses, along with improvements to libraries and the ornamental fish market, alongside infrastructure development throughout the city.
“We have spent about ₹3,000 crore on construction, leading to a negative balance of ₹1,500 crore. There are no funds available for new projects, as construction is not within CMDA’s core mandate. The authority lacks an executive wing with adequate engineering personnel to oversee the projects, yet it ventured into construction without the capability to assess quality or maintain assets afterward,” an official stated.
After discussing these concerns in a recent review meeting, CMDA acknowledged that it had deviated from its original purpose of evaluating planning approvals, developing residential and commercial layouts, and collecting scrutiny fees, redirecting instead into extensive construction work.
“We end up transferring maintenance of these assets to other departments, which does not generate any revenue for CMDA,” officials noted. Previously, CMDA merely funded specific projects proposed by other departments without taking on full construction responsibilities.
The review found that the corpus revenue accumulated since 1972 from interest earnings has been entirely depleted. The current TVK government has dissolved the CMDA ministry established by the previous DMK government, reverting control to the housing ministry as it was historically.
CMDA has played a significant role in developing neighborhoods such as Anna Nagar, Mogappair East and West, OMR, Koyambedu, and Virugambakkam. However, officials mentioned that no new neighborhood plans have been established in the past five years, except for an on-paper township in Thirumazhisai.
“In the last two years, CMDA failed to initiate any new plotted developments, neighborhoods, or land pooling, which are its core responsibilities. We will return to these fundamental tasks and withdraw from construction,” the official concluded, mentioning that CMDA currently has a revenue of ₹15 crore and plans to enhance this through land pooling and layout development projects.
