Airport expansion on, Chennai will wear new look in future

Chennai, Jul 30 (UNI) Asserting that the government would go ahead with the airport expansion project, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said Chennai would sport a new look in the next two years after the implementation of many development projects.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the DGP office and Forensic Science Directorate here, Mr Karunanidhi said the Centre has sanctioned funds for the expansion of airport and the government would go ahead with the project, crossing all hurdles.

''There will be no more hurdles to the expansion project and even if some, the government would cross them and go ahead with the completion of the expansion project'', he said.

Mr Karunanidhi recalled the effort of the DMK government had taken during 1989-90 to protect the present DGP office complex, off Marina, when the previous AIADMK regime, sought to demolish it.

After winning a legal battle, the DMK government had renovated the complex at a cost of Rs 1.35 crore and made it an important landmark in the city. Some even compare the building to the beauty of Taj Mahal, the Chief Minister said.

With a horde of projects under implementation for beautification of the city, Chennai would look very different in the coming years, especially after the completion of Marina beautification taken up at a cost of Rs 25 crore and the Adyar estuary, an ecological restoration project being implemented at a cost of Rs 100 crore.

He said after the DMK came to power for the fifth time, it had retrieved 320 grounds of land belonging to the state horticulture department from a private party, cleared the city from advertisement boards and hoardings, and shifted the central prison to suburban Puzhal.

The Government General hospital would be expanded at the place where the central prison was originally located, he said. Chennai will also have a new Assembly-cum-Secretariat complex, a central library akin to the libraries in Malaysia and Singapore and Metro Rail, he said.

Apart from the fly-overs being completed, the city would have three more fly-overs to ease traffic congestion, the Chief Minister said.

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