Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXVI No. 20, February 1-15, 2017
Chennai Newsreel
– Jayanthi Raghunathan
North Chennai booms
Thanks to the IT boom, the south of Chennai had a total makeover of a posh upscale metro, leaving behind its image of a fishing harbour to North Chennai alone. With property prices skyrocketing in south Chennai, several IT offices and mass upscale housing projects have made North Chennai their hub. Along with these have come large retail stores and other services that were once only available in south Chennai. Hence, with the extension of phase II of Chennai Metro Rail, the planned smart city in Ponneri and the completion of the Outer Ring Road, the North Chennai will get a big boost. The next generation in all these regions are educated and earn Rs.15,000 per month on an average per month. Moving away from industrial work, this generation is employed mostly in the services sector which naturally brings in demand for better social infrastructure.
The 71-acre Binny Mills is being developed into an integrated township with a mix of residential and commercial space. The project is valued at around Rs.5000 crore. Sugal and Damani Foundation has purchased 8.6 acres of land in Padi from biscuit maker Britannia for Rs. 172 crore for property development.
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Chennai, the noisiest city
Chennai is often portrayed to be the most reticent of all the metros. But a recent study by the Central Pollution Control Board tells a different tale. The city is the noisiest in the country, followed by Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Locations in Chennai were selected under four categories for the study. Anna Nagar was under the silence zone. T’ Nagar, Perambur, Washerman-pet and Pallikaranai under the commercial zone, Guindy under the industrial zone and Triplicane, Velachery and Sowcarpet under the residential zones. The noise levels recorded at these zones were double the permissible limits.
The main reasons for noise were found to be vehicular traffic, construction work, industrial activity, generator sets and loud speakers… These high levels of noise cause hypertension, stress, hearing impairment, sleep disturbance and heart ailments.
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Realty bytes
Recent study by a web-based financial company, Artha Yantra Corporation, states that Chennai will be the third most expensive city in the country. The survey of 12 cities found that the prices of residential properties as well as rent per square feet have risen in Chennai. Compared to last year, residential property prices shot up by 9 per cent and rents rose by 3.1 per cent. Kolathur, Medavakkam and Perambur are the most affordable localities for renting a house. The most expensive location for buying or renting houses are Adyar, Chetpet, Egmore, Kilpauk and Nungambakkam. The report estimates that it will take 5.8 years of savings for a middle-class family in Chennai (Rs.8 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh) to generate the corpus for an initial down payment, assuming a savings rate of 10 per cent.
With the demonetisation in effect, property prices are expected to crash but rentals are still seen to be on an increasing trend. – (Courtesy: Industrial Economist.)
