CMDA wants Rs 930 crore spent on ORR land acquisition reimbursed
CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has sought reimbursement of nearly Rs 930 crore spent on land acquisition for the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project from the state highways department. The CMDA has now escalated the matter to the Housing and Urban Development Department, arguing that releasing locked-up capital is critical for ongoing urban infrastructure works. Documents placed before CMDAs 285th authority meeting trace the dispute to the ORRs long and fragmented planning history. First proposed in the 1975 Master Plan as part of a three-ring system for Madras, the 62-km ORR was initially conceived as a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project, with private concessionaires expected to recover costs through tolls. That model never took off. Instead, CMDA stepped in during the 1990s to acquire land, backed by a series of government orders between 1993 and 1998 that allowed it to recover costs from a BOT operator. The projects control subsequently shifted to the Highways department, with the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC) appointed managing associate and tolling introduced. CMDAs sunk costs, however, were not factored into the tolling framework. By 2016, CMDA had already spent Rs 452 crore; by June 2025, the figure had risen to Rs 929.69 crore. Ongoing litigation over compensation some cases pending before the Supreme Court could push total liabilities to over Rs 2,100 crore, sources said. Repeated Empowered Committee meetings between 2016 and 2022 recommended that CMDA transfer the acquired land and submit reimbursement claims. However, the Highways department has been unwilling to take it up, according to sources, especially since the enactment of the Tamil Nadu State Highways Authority (TANSHA) Act in 2024, and the subsequent transfer of the ORR asset to TANSHA in April 2025 reportedly without CMDAs consultation. This financial dispute is unfolding just as the state accelerates plans to monetise and densify the ORR corridor. TIDEL Park Limited has already received enter upon permission for three IT park sites at Malayambakkam, Mannivakkam and Vandalur based on corridor-wide land valuations. Parallelly, CMDA is finalising a detailed development plan for a 126 sq km influence area one kilometre on either side of the ORR anchored around four growth nodes. TNRDC and housing department officials could not be contacted.
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