The Financial City Project was first proposed at Perumbakkam, near Sholinganallur off the OMR by the DMK Government in September 2009. Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) had even identified about 180 acres at Perumbakkam. Due to the inefficient efforts by the DMK Government, the projects failed to take off.
The DMK Government decided to make the Financial City Project in Sholinganaluur from scratches and aimed for only foreign investments for the development.
The then President of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI), for TamilNadu chapter Prakash Challa felt that government should make best use of IT parks lying inside the city for kickstarting the Financial City Projects.
As per the Times Of India reports dated on 24 September 2009, Mr.Prakash Challa expresed his displeasure on government’s stand, saying, ”When more than 12 million sq.ft of IT are readily available for occupation at very low rentals, what is the need to create a separate infrastructure starting from scratch for the financial city?”
His opinion is that government needs to just roll out a better financial investment policy, aimed at creating the right kind of environment to attract investments from global banks, insurance firms and financial institutions.
”There is enough and more ready to occupy space in the city to cater to the needs of those who want to set up shops immediately. It would also reduce considerably the gestation period between the conceptualization and implementation of the scheme” he noted.
But the then Karunanidhi Government acted deaf to the opinion of him and went for grabbing foreign investments which lead to the delay of the scheme.
During September 2009, the then Deputy Chief Minister Stalin flew to Singapore for elaborating his plan and grabbing foreign investments but failed.
In June 2014, the then ADMK Government, shifted the project from Perumbakkam to Sriperumbudhur.
During November 2019, the state government led by AIADMK had revived the financial city project but once again changed the location to Nandambakkam. The Government was in the final stages of approving the project and estimated an investment of several thousand crores with employment to 30,000 people.
But due to the change in power in 2021, the DMK Government put the arrangements to a halt at Nandambakkam.
Again in December 2022, Stalin again revived the Financial City Project, but cancelled it in Nandambakkam, starting it afresh at the suburbs of Chennai in Perumbakkam near Sholinganallur .
Again, we can see that history repeating is itself as like in 2009 with CM Stalin planning for a trip to Singapore.
Just like in the popular Tamil film Maanaadu, Stalin seems to be stuck in a time loop – ‘Vandhaan, Suttan, Ponaan, Repeat-u’ (He came, he shot, he went, repeat).
With the Global Investors Summit planned in Tamil Nadu on Jan 10, 11 in 2024, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will tour around abroad after May 20 to attract investments.
If the reports are something to go by, Stalin will visit London, Singapore and Japan on a one-week tour to attract investments for the State. During his visit, he would meet entrepreneurs and government officials.
The official announcement will likely be made following the cabinet meeting scheduled for May 2.
The past experiences simply conclude that there would be no good return to the state of Tamil Nadu by CM Stalin’s Singapore Trip. But will end up a waste of taxpayers money.
This article has been developed based on Krishna Kumar Murugan‘s tweet on the same subject.
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