Chennai: A mounting debt burden of ₹3,500 crore has left Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) with little room to fund major infrastructure projects on its own. Against this backdrop, the World Bank is set to finance a new slate of civic projects in Chennai.World Bank officials recently met GCC commissioner G S Sameeran. They agreed to provide project funding for integrated flood and rescue management systems, cool-roof solutions to reduce urban heat, EV charging stations in strategic locations, and rooftop solar panels in GCC’s administrative buildings and corporation schools.The delegation comprising the bank’s principal industry specialist Ommid Saberi, global operations lead Ngyen Nhan and green building expert Autif Mohammed Sayed also had a plan to explore how GCC can monetise its assets by optimising the use of corporation-owned lands and facilities to improve civic revenues.A Gnanaselvam, a World Bank consultant for special projects coordinating with GCC, said the bank proposed to execute more pedestrian plazas for the city. “We have suggested funding for these projects. But GCC has to finalise the requirements, locations, and send us the proposals,” he said.The state govt is keen on scheme-based projects funded by foreign funding agencies, even if it takes time for preparation and execution. “We are in no hurry to execute big-ticket projects. We want to prepare DPRs, bring them under a comprehensive scheme covering the entire city or a neighbourhood, and then get foreign aid. The foreign banks have better tender scrutiny, and they have their own PMC. We want quality of projects, sticking to deadlines and better returns to people,” an official said.The GCC commissioner chaired a review meeting to execute scheme-based projects for the city under urban challenge funding. The discussions focused on preparing projects including restoration and development of lakes, ponds and other waterbodies, blue-green infrastructure projects such as park development and measures to increase green cover, area and neighbourhood development in Tondiarpet–Washermenpet–Royapuram, Adyar–Besant Nagar, T Nagar–Teynampet and Royapettah–Triplicane, pedestrian infrastructure improvements including footpaths, road junctions and road curves to improve safety and traffic flow, and beachfront development at Besant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur and Palavakkam.The commissioner directed officials to prepare DPRs for these projects.
