Tamil Nadu may have a new political dispensation in place but many of the age-old practices seem to continue regardless. One of these is the cancellation of several projects that were clearly very dear to the previous administration. A high profile project whose fate hangs in the balance is the proposed airport at Parandur. The next to make the news has been the proposal of the CMDA to cancel several city-based infrastructural projects sighting a severe funds shortage. This throws open several questions. First, how were these projects planned and taken forward till announcement without a proper funding plan? Second, a perusal of these projects seem to indicate that many of them were merely cosmetic in nature and therefore would have made no difference to the quality of city life. So why were they taken up at all?
The CMDA has announced that it is battling a funds shortage with outstanding liabilities of Rs. 3,500 crores. Citing this as its reason, it has proposed the cancellation of three major projects – the global sports city plan, beachfront development, and waterfront development. The foundation stone for the first of the three projects was laid in February 2026 in that flurry of foundation-stone-laying and announcements that always happens prior to the electoral code of conduct kicking in. With the change in government, this project obviously is no longer priority. That it was of great importance to the previous administration is well known, given that the then deputy chief minister had taken sports development as his personal mission. However, it must be asked as to what purpose a global sports city would serve to Chennai which by itself is grappling with several other infrastructural issues that would be of higher priority in any administration.
The city, it should be noted, is already well provided for with stadiums of various kinds. These are not utilised to the extent that they ought to be and remain empty concrete shells that take up quite a bit of funding by way of maintenance. While we agree that sports investments are priority if we need to develop our youth, they can be done in a far more nuanced fashion at ward and school level rather than by way of large projects like a global sports city. With all respect, such schemes are for first world countries, not ours with its multifarious existential issues.
We now come to the waterfront and beachfront development projects. A scan of both the proposals would reveal that these were exceedingly cosmetic in nature, chiefly dealing with viewing decks, seating areas, walkways and other such facilities. The core challenges being faced by the beaches and the waterfronts were never addressed. These include unregulated vending, indiscriminate dumping of garbage, encroachment, stray dog menace, and the poor quality of the water itself. To what purpose waterfront parks if the water by way of the river or the lakes is treated as a medium for the disposal of sewage and rubbish? The rivers have not shown any signs of improvement despite several projects that claimed to transform them. The lakes themselves seem devoid of that water recharge facilities, most of which have been destroyed due to encroachment and indiscriminate land development. Any administration worth its salt would have first focused on these greater, insurmountable, challenges rather than on beautifying places that would be beautiful enough with a bare minimum of upkeep and civic awareness on the part of the local residents.
It is therefore appropriate that the present administration is mulling over the cancellation of these projects. But the question still remains – will it address the more serious core issues or will it in turn only look at other cosmetic projects that it can take up? Only time will tell.