Chennai: A sports complex on six acres, a three-storey hospital with inpatient facilities and a food street on North Avenue Road are among a slew of big-ticket infrastructure projects proposed by Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s Perambur constituency.GCC commissioner G S Sameeran, who inspected the constituency on Wednesday, said projects worth more than ₹100 crore have been proposed and will be funded through a mix of GCC allocations, chief minister’s special funds, state grants and foreign bank funding.A major proposal is an integrated sports complex on a six-acre parcel near GNT Road with a football ground, cricket net practice facility, badminton courts and handball courts. Sameeran said Perambur had significant vacant land available for public infrastructure, though coordination with Tamil Nadu Housing Board would be required in some locations where they own the land.GCC has also proposed developing a food plaza along the 270m North Avenue Road stretch in MKB Nagar. Officials said the wide road corridor has the potential to emerge as a food street similar to Anna Nagar and that the currently underused stretch would be revived.The road was notified as Chennai’s first vending zone in Aug 2024 but never took off, with vendors citing poor footfall, inadequate lighting and encroachment by parked vehicles.Another proposal is a ground-plus-three hospital with inpatient facilities at Sathyamoorthy Nagar. Officials said residents currently depend on Periyar Nagar hospital in Kolathur or Tondiarpet’s Communicable Diseases Hospital, and the new facility is expected to improve healthcare access for people in Vyasarpadi and Kodungaiyur.The commissioner instructed officials to obtain structural stability certification from Anna University experts before taking up new construction works.GCC also plans to redevelop corporation schools in the area under the Chennai Schools initiative. “Several school buildings dating back to the 1950s and 1960s will be demolished and rebuilt with modern infrastructure,” the commissioner said.Separately, the corporation has proposed restoration of the Vyasarpadi pond, which is the zero point of the canal system and now choked with vegetation.
