Chennai, April 17: Super Chennai, a citizen- led city-wide branding movement, released its “Transformation of Chennai – What’s been done & What it needs” Report – a comprehensive, apolitical audit of Chennai’s ongoing urban transformation. The report documents over Rs. 90,000 crore of concurrent infrastructure investment across metro rail, expressways, a greenfield airport, water security, and urban mobility.
With state assembly constituencies heading toward elections, Super Chennai is calling on all candidates, parties, and voters to treat infrastructure continuity as a non-negotiable civic priority – not a partisan issue.
The report classifies every major project as Done, Underway, or Proposed – giving citizens, candidates, and policymakers a clear-eyed picture of what has been delivered versus what still requires institutional follow-through. Among the projects most at risk from disruption: the Maduravoyal double-decker expressway (30% complete), the Parandur greenfield airport (land acquisition ongoing across 20 villages), Metro Phase II (under construction across three corridors), and the Perur desalination plant (SE Asia’s largest, approximately 30% complete).
What Super Chennai is asking of every candidate
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Commit publicly to honouring all active infrastructure contracts, land acquisition agreements, and multi-year funding obligations — including those with ADB, JICA, World Bank, and KfW.
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Treat water security as a civic imperative: the 750 MLD desalination programme and Adyar river restoration must be completed on schedule.
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Prioritise Metro Phase II completion by 2030 and accelerate the MRTS–Metro merger with integrated single-card ticketing.
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Protect Parandur airport’s momentum — affected communities must receive fair, transparent, and timely rehabilitation alongside project execution.
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Close the gap between building the city and running it: parking enforcement, footpath maintenance, utility coordination, and service-level accountability matter as much as new construction.
Mr. Ranjeeth Rathod, Managing Director, Super Chennai:
“Compared with peer cities such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Chennai’s long-term competitive strengths – including lower congestion levels, advancing water security systems, and relatively lower talent attrition – are closely tied to the infrastructure investments currently underway across the region. Sustaining this momentum is essential to protecting the city’s economic trajectory over the coming decade.
Super Chennai’s message is straightforward: the projects shaping the city today are not symbolic milestones, but long-term commitments already in motion. Ensuring their continuity, coordination and timely delivery will be critical to securing Chennai’s next phase of growth.”
Chennai today stands as one of India’s most important metropolitan economies, with a GDP exceeding $103 billion and a rapidly expanding global presence. The city has more than doubled its Global Capability Centre footprint since 2021 – growing from around 150 to over 305 centres – while also being home to IIT Madras, the country’s top-ranked university, and progressing toward becoming India’s next dual-airport metro. As this next phase of growth unfolds, sustaining momentum across infrastructure, mobility and economic development will be critical to ensuring Chennai strengthens its position as one of India’s most competitive and future-ready global cities.
