Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has issued an order to set up a new building complex in Chennai’s Pattinapakkam, comprising a modern legislative assembly and secretariat, at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,200 crore.
Since the Chennai Secretariat is facing severe space constraints, efforts have long been underway to shift the Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly to another location.
The Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly are currently functioning from Fort St. George, which belongs to the military. The Archaeological Survey of India does not permit the Secretariat to be expanded there. As a result, the Secretariat continues to operate under severe space constraints even today.
In this situation, Chief Minister Vijay, speaking in the Legislative Assembly on the 3rd, said, “A new building complex housing a modern Legislative Assembly and Secretariat will be built in Chennai over an area of 20 lakh square feet at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,200 crore.”
Following this, the government has announced that Pattinapakkam, within the Mylapore urban area, has been selected as the site for the new building complex to house the Legislative Assembly and the Secretariat. A government order has been issued in this regard.

Accordingly, a total of 25.55 acres of land has been selected: about 21 acres belonging to the Housing Board in Pattinapakkam, 0.93 acres belonging to the Greater Chennai Corporation, 1.73 acres belonging to the Revenue Department, and another 1.13 acres belonging to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board.
The government has given policy-level approval to acquire these lands and set up a new building complex, spread over about 20 lakh square feet, housing the Legislative Assembly and the Secretariat with all modern facilities.
Furthermore, the government has directed the Public Works Department to submit the detailed project report for this within three months.

In addition, the government has instructed the Public Works Department to set up three committees: a committee for architectural consultation, a committee for the initial building plan and design, and a committee for finalizing the plan and design.
