Recent news has it that the Government has invited consultants for a Rs 10 crore contract to come up with Local Area Plans (LAPs) for Anna Salai and OMR. The idea behind this is that the consultants need to suggest how best to unlock the real estate value of the commercial space on either side of these arterial roads by improving the infrastructure. Accessibility and liveability are the key considerations it is said. While these are no doubt very ennobling thoughts, it must be remembered that Anna Salai or Mount Road was very much accessible and vibrant till just over four decades ago. Who then is to blame for the fact that it is no longer so?
Before we go on to the proposed improvements on Mount Road, it is necessary to speak of OMR itself. Considering that much of this space is recent development not going back in time beyond two decades, it is surprising that accessibility, alignment and other such urban qualifications were not thought of during the planning phase itself. Does this not indicate that the Government is forever catching up with improvements which probably accounts for why our roads are perpetually in a state of disrepair? Even something as elementary as footpaths are shoddy in OMR. And as for pedestrians ever hoping to cross, perish the thought.
Coming to Anna Salai/Mount Road, this was the acknowledged downtown for the whole of the old city. Till the 1980s at least, Mount Road was where you went for shopping, to watch movies, to eat out and generally hang around. The road was broad, the buildings were iconic and there was a buzz about the place. People spent time on Mount Road. Today, people just whizz past it. It is merely an arterial road to go somewhere else.
The first nails in Mount Road’s coffin were the terrible concept of service lanes that came about in the 1980s. Ostensibly to help with traffic movement and also provide for parking (which existed anyway), they cut off all access to retail establishments that lined both sides of the road. And even that system was not followed consistently – the service lanes have all but vanished now. The new complicated one way system may work as far as the police is concerned but business establishments may not see it that way. Traffic movement cannot be the only criterion – local area development often becomes a casualty and Mount Road is a classic example of this. It is high time we thought beyond cars and encouraged public transport. The Metro is a huge gamechanger and can redefine access to Mount Road.
The demise of cinema theatres as a concept was a major factor. Replacing them was a series of faceless office blocks that transformed the character of Mount Road – it ceased being a place that people came to hang around in. In many ways, the vanishing of theatres was an opportunity lost – the spaces freed up could have been put to countless creative uses and that is where a strong planning and permitting authority would have helped with a vision in place for the entire area. Office blocks only added to the congestion on Mount Road and on weekends transformed it into a dead area. This was not so earlier.
Mixed zoning, which encouraged commercial buildings just about anywhere in the city, thereby tearing apart residential localities had its own benefits – restaurants, shops and entertainment spaces became more accessible, but that meant Mount Road was no longer where you had to go.
All of these factors will have to be taken into consideration by whichever planner gets the contract. Solutions will apart from basic improvements such as accessibility and last mile connects also take heritage into account and how best to show case it. These long-term stakeholders in the area must be consulted and their views considered. It is these heritage buildings that lend character to the road and but most important of all, they hold the key to making it a prime space in the city. In the name of development these should not be demolished and therefore owners must be compensated for preserving them. Should Transfer of Development Rights, long on the anvil but never implemented now be considered?