World bank supports the Tamil Nadu government to transform Chennai into a ‘world-class city’

After many discussions and delays, the TN government finally gives a green signal to the partnership project.

By Anoushka Sawhney

Tamil Nadu government will launch a World Bank aided sustainable urban service project

for Chennai.

The World Bank board of executive directors has approved a loan of $150 million for the

project,‘Chennai City Partnership: Sustainable Urban Services Program’, after many

discussions and deliberations.

According to the official statement by the World Bank, the five-year program will focus on

transforming Chennai into a “world-class city that is more green, livable, competitive, and

resilient to climate change and other shocks”. 

Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India, in an official statement by the Bank,

said, “This program heralds the start of our partnership with the city of Chennai where we

will work with GoTN to jointly create a more climate-friendly, resilient and inclusive model

for managing urban growth. The experience emerging from this partnership can inform other

Indian cities and, more broadly, India’s massive urban transition.”

Raj Cherubal, CEO of Chennai Smart City Limited said that the state was chosen as “the

Tamil Nadu government has done a lot of interesting work like the Pedestrian Plaza Project”,

which impressed the World Bank officials. 

“The World Bank realizes that only a state like Tamil Nadu will be able to handle something

of this magnitude.” 

Even on an earlier project, the World Bank had supported the state with financial assistance

for providing proper sanitation facilities to the people in Alandur. 

Talking about the aim of the project Cherubal said that the objective is to “strengthen the

already existing institutions”. Greater Chennai Corporation is an old and better institution as

compared to other cities, but depends on state government and central government for funds

unlike the advanced cities, who through their ability raise funds as required. 

“When we compare Chennai with Seoul or Singapore, the question is what is it that the city

corporation of Seoul or Singapore has, which Chennai corporation doesn’t have and then try

to improve to do a better job for its citizens.”

Many agencies such as the Housing and Urban Department, Metropolitan Transport

Corporation, Municipal administration are a part of the project. 

A team will be set up by the Tamil Nadu government to regularly monitor the process of each

department involved in the project. “It’s a multi-department or a multi-agency project,” said

Cherubal. 

The program will focus on four key areas, that is, ‘Water resource management, water

supply, and sewerage services’, ‘Urban Mobility’, ‘Health Services’, and ‘Solid Waste

Management’. 

Talking about Urban mobility, Cherubal said that one important component of any public

space is to think about how do we make the city infrastructure and services more “gender-

informed”. 

“A team in the corporation will be set up called the Gender Lab, which will have a team lead,

policy specialist, and a communication specialist who will analyse the city and work on

future or current projects from a women’s point of view.”

In regards to health services, Cherubal said that Chennai has a “fairly good primary health

care system, which is also the reason behind the city’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

The focus of this project in regards to this sector is to improve the health care delivery system

in Chennai.

“Discussions with the World Bank experts and each department has started”, and we will see

the results within the next few years, said Cherubal.

Cover image credit: Citizen Matters