The Chennai Metro is making significant progress, with occupancy and usage on the rise day by day. Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) is actively working towards establishing a strong revenue model, generating consistent annuities, and effectively trying to monetise available land parcels, said Ajit Chordia, Managing Director, Olympia Group India.

Chordia said that Chennai Metro’s approach to leveraging land, such as the 30-storey building being developed at Central Station, will play a key role in subsidising rail operations and ensuring long-term sustainability.

During a panel discussion moderated by K Venugopal, Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd, on Urban Mobility at the Mystic South - Global Linkages Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Tuesday, Chordia emphasised that public transport, particularly the metro, is a crucial part of the city’s infrastructure and is here to stay. CMRL is enhancing last-mile connectivity by collaborating with e-rickshaws to help passengers travel from stations to nearby destinations, said Chordia.

Metro’s impact

The impact of the metro extends beyond transportation; it also drives urban densification. Wherever the metro has been introduced, growth has followed. Chordia also mentioned that the State government is encouraging this development by offering a 50 per cent discount on the premium Floor Space Index (FSI) for areas within 500 metres of the metro corridor, further incentivizing higher-density constructions.

Answering a query on urban air transport, Satyakam Arya, Managing Director and CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, said it is set to come “sooner than we think.”

“Look at the problem statements in our daily lives. For travelling from inside the city in Bengaluru to the airport or the other way around, how much time do we spend on that? One-and-half hours? If you could do this in 10-15 minutes by paying a little bit incremental, I’m sure people would take it. So, it’s coming very soon, as soon as the asset is ready and we have worked out a good operating system, it will be there. It’s a reality.”

Published on February 11, 2025