Will Chennai’s new racing track prove a white elephant?

-- by Varsha V.

Recently, Chennai spent Rs. 40 crores to host its very first night street race in the F4 and Indian Racing League under the aegis of the Sports Development Authority of India (SDAT). With 19 corners along its route, the city’s new 3.5 km Chennai Formula Racing Circuit begins and ends at the Island Ground, winding through Anna Salai, Swami Sivananda Salai along the Cooum, Kamarajar Salai along the Marina Beach, the Napier Bridge and Flag Staff Road. Spectator stands were established along the circuitfor fans to enjoy watching the races – one stand was set up on Anna Salai near Muthuswami Bridge, four on Sivananda Salai and three lounges on Island Grounds. Ticket prices ranged from Rs. 1,700 to Rs. 11,000 and it is reported that 5,000 tickets were sold in all. More on the race itself has been ably covered by Mr. S.R. Suryanarayan in the sports section of this issue. This column, however, has a different question to ask about the event: Was it worth it, after all?

State sports authorities have been energetically working to put Chennai on the global map for myriad sports other than cricket – readers may recall that the city hosted global chess and surfing events in the fairly recent past, for example. In similar vein, the F4 racing circuit seeks to establish Chennai on the global street racing scene alongside venues like Singapore and Saudi Arabia. While the recent race faced some glitches – for instance, the circuit license from the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA) was delayed in coming – the sporting world seems to agree that the event was a passable success. However, the sentiment does not seem to be shared by a significant number of the public. In fact, the lingering complaints appear to be saving the race from passing into oblivion.

It appears that preliminary arrangements left much to be desired. When the event was proposed last year, the Madras High Court had, before giving conditional approval to the plan, rightly questioned why the city must spend Rs. 40 crores to host a race – the honourable court mandated that traffic in diversion routes should move freely so as to not inconvenience the public, especially patients seeking treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Omandurar Government Multi-Speciality hospital, and travellers commuting to MGR Chennai Central Railway Station. It’s safe to say that these conditions had not quite been adhered to.

A few days before the race, Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam had taken to social media to rue the usage of flimsy, unstable tin sheets in the median of the busy road – structures, he pointed out, that posed a serious hazard to motorists. It is hard to say whether this alert was acted upon. Post-event clearance was disappointing – news reports point out that even ten days after the night race, commuters had to contend with abandoned railings, barricades and poles. The Times of India reported that Anna Salai, Sivananda Salai, Kamarajar Salai and Flag Staff Road were cluttered with concrete barricade and steel grilles. Potholes pockmarked Sivananda Salai near Marina where steel poles had been removed; in fact, one lane remained blocked by racing barricades, forcing vehicles into the remaining lane and causing two-way congestion. Anna Salai near Army headquarters suffered much the same fate, and pedestrians have been obliged to walk on the busy road at the Flag Staff Road-Anna Salai Junction. The dismantling was slow and sloppy, and the public was rightly irked. Who will bear the cost of bringing the roads back to their normal working condition? Hopefully the organiser – Racing Promotion Private Limited (RPPL) – will, for otherwise the cost to exchequer may well nullify whatever profits came by way of hosting the event.

Chennai’s new track is reportedly licensed for the next two years, so it is safe to assume that more races are in the offing. One hopes that a post-event audit will be conducted before gearing up for the next lap. Otherwise the city might just find itself saddled with a white elephant.

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