Concerns raised over Chennai Corporation’s plan to implement ₹100-crore road works before Assembly poll

The Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) plan to undertake ₹100-crore worth of road works ahead of the announcement of dates for the 2026 Assembly election has raised questions over whether the relaying can be taken up and completed.

Residents raised concerns that officials may soon be engaged for poll-related work, and authorities may not be able to commence work once the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force.

Coordination concerns

According to a senior GCC official, the work orders have been issued. As per documents shared by the Bus Route Roads Department, GCC has identified 489 roads, including 97 bus route roads, with a total length of 96,300 metres.

Works on these roads are to be taken up on a high-priority basis under two tenders, at a tentative estimate of ₹100.5 crore.

The official said as there was an acute shortage of funds, the initial plan to float tenders worth ₹486 crore for road relaying was scaled down. Loans would be availed from the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund for relaying high-priority roads that will be identified after inspection, the official added.

A portion of Patel Road is slated for relaying, but GCC officials will soon be engaged in poll-related work, making coordination difficult, said Raghukumar Choodamani of the Perambur Neighbourhood Forum.

“Roads should last at least for three years, but this lane has worn-off within months and is repeatedly restored only in parts,” he claimed.

The dilapidated stormwater drain should have been restored first, but the road was laid a few months before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. When milling was done on this road earlier, locals had asked officials to reconsider relaying the road, Raghukumar said. He also urged authorities to engage with locals and improve inter-agency coordination before starting work to avoid repeated digging and relaying of roads. Manapakkam councillor P. Usharani Pandiyan of the AIADMK said, though relaying has now been proposed, there would be little time to finalise the tender floated and begin work.

Ayanavaram councillor T.V. Shemmozhi of the DMK said such issues do occur, but could be avoided if each contractor for road relaying owns the necessary machinery and is assigned a maximum of 20 roads each.

Lack of approvals

“Mahatma Gandhi Nagar and Sivasakthi Nagar in Kolathur have not had proper roads for nearly three decades. The underground pipeline for sewage disposal started a few weeks ago, but work has not happened for the past couple of days,” said Kolathur Resident Welfare Association Secretary M. Murthy.

“When Chief Minister M.K. Stalin visited the constituency recently, petitions were submitted through the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]. Yet, local authorities said new roads for these places have not been approved,” he alleged.

R. Jayaraman, CPI(M) councillor from Ward 4 in Tiruvottiyur, said that only three of the 36 roads he had proposed for relaying were approved at an estimated cost of ₹70 lakh.

“By the end of February or the first week of March, the election schedule and Model Code of Conduct dates are likely to be announced. If road work starts only before that, then there is a possibility of finishing it. But tenders have not been finalised yet,” he said.