Kicking off topics for our friends in Chennai with this burning issue. An elevated expressway is planned along the coast line. See here for the details. This is causing a lot of heartburn amongst the people who are questioning its utility. While most people were initially gung ho on the infrastructure addition now people are really worried about the environmental & long term impact this might have.
Looks like a feasiblity report was conducted based on which the DPR is being done. It will be useful to have a copy of the feasibility report to see the details. Need to identify the authority which commissioned the feasibility study and file and RTI with them.
Here is a good summary of the reasons for opposition. One point stood out
i) Absence of examination of alternatives: The project fails to examine alternatives, including policy measures and planning interventions such as measures to discourage private vehicles, increasing public transportation capacity, staggering office and college/school hours etc.
So the questions
- Is it unsustainable?
- What is the exact alignment of this expressway? (mark on a map)
- How was feasibility arrived at? is it only traffic feasibility? Does it take into account environmental impact?
- How did this pass environmental clearance?
- More importantly what are the alternatives to solve the problem this highway was trying to address?
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