14 streets in Pondy Bazaar set for makeover

According to a Chennai Corporation official, the project is mainly aimed to provide on-street parking facility to station the vehicles of shoppers visiting the pedestrian plaza, which is being constructed on Thiyagaraya Road.

“After the works for the pedestrian plaza under the Smart City Mission was taken up, motorists and shop owners are finding it difficult to parking the vehicles. The shop owners also requested to provide an alternate arrangement to park vehicles,” said a Chennai Corporation official.

Following the representation in this regard, the civic body has prepared the Rs 5.34 crore plan to provide kerb to realign the carriageway, widen the footpaths, redevelopment for four-wheeler and two-wheeler parking areas, traffic calming measures, senior citizen and disabled-friendly facilities on the 14 streets.

The streets are Raja Badar Street and Raja Badar Street Extension, Deena Dayalu Street, Lakshmikanthan Street, Basudeva Street, Raja Street, Masilamani Street, Gopala Krishnan Road and Gopala Krishnan Road Extension, Sivagnanam Street, Srinivasa Road, Muthukrishnan Street, Sivaprakasam Street and Singaravelu Street.

“The project will be implemented under the Smart City Mission. The proposal will be placed before the Chennai Smart City Limited board for obtaining administrative sanction. Tenders will be called after the board sanctions it,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the civic body has also proposed to redevelop North Usman Road and South Usman Road at Rs 14.47 crore and Rs 8.94 crore respectively. According to the proposal mooted under Smart City Mission, rainwater harvesting systems, conduits for Tangedco, BSNL and other service providers to lay underground cables. “The detailed project report for both the roads have been prepared,” officialsources said.

Apart from redeveloping of streets and roads in T Nagar, the Chennai Corporation is also working on a proposal to construct a multi-level car parking on Sivagnanam Street. Construction works for multi-level car parking at Thiyagaraya Road – Thanikachalam Road is underway.