With the work for preparing the vision document for the third master plan of Chennai gaining pace, chief minister M K Stalin will be releasing it by December 2025, said the minister for Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) P K Sekar Babu.
CMDA is preparing the Vision Document for Third Master Plan (2026-2046) for Chennai Metropolitan Area, covering 1,189 sq km. The comprehensive plan expects to address issues like transport and infrastructure and make the city a progressive, inclusive and global city. The minister also added that North Chennai might be one of the focuses. Meanwhile, residents and urban planning experts want CMDA to ensure an inclusive stakeholder consultation and take the opinions of homeless.
To involve the residents in creating the future of Chennai and to collect their views in creating the third master plan, CMDA has installed boards with QR codes in public places. The residents will have to scan the code and answer 14 questions. In a tweet, the chief minister encouraged people to take the survey.
The document will be utilised to plan a sustainable environment, a vibrant economy and an inclusive holistic development for the Chennai metropolitan area.
Initially, the CMDA roped in a consultant and held public meetings in 29 zones of the Chennai Metropolitan area. However, as it did not receive the required response, Sekar Babu directed officials to reach the public in person. Subsequently, officials have been organising vision survey campaigns in public places. On Sunday, Sekar Babu, CMDA member secretary Anshul Mishra and other officials conducted an awareness campaign on the visioning exercise near Labour Statue on Marina Beach.
“Last four months, CMDA has been working on creating the vision document. Our government wants full public participation in the initiative, we want residents’ views in creating the city for them. As of now, we have 17,000 responses and we expect a minimum of 50,000 responses,” said Sekar Babu.
The questions are divided into different categories – the type of housing, quality of life, recreation, environment, economy and investment attractiveness and image of the future city they perceive. “They pertain to issues such as addressing transport congestion, infrastructure, basic amenities like housing, urban development, environment, new town development and making the city pollution free amongst others,” he added.
K P Subramanian, former professor of Urban Engineering at Anna University, said, “CMDA should ensure inclusive stakeholder consultations.”
