Rajiv Gandhi Salai,
previously known as Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) or IT Corridor is
a major road in suburban Chennai, India, beginning at the Madhya Kailash
temple in Adyar and continuing south till Mahabalipuram, ultimately merging
with the East Coast Road. This is popularly called as the 'IT Corridor'
because this stretch has become home to many IT/ITES companies.
The corridor, an ambitious six-lane project with service lanes and landscaping,
is still in the making. The first phase — 20.1 km from Madhya Kailash
junction in Adyar to Siruseri — was to have been opened by 2005.
Plagued by delays, primarily due to problems in land acquisition, the stretch
became operational in 2008. Feasibility studies are being conducted for
phase 2 between Siruseri and Mahabalipuram.
The IT Corridor Project is being implemented in two phases – Phase-I(20 km)
between Madhya Kailash Temple Junction and Siruseri, and Phase-II(26 km) between
Siruseri and Mahabalipuram. The 2.1 km long ECR Link Road connecting IT
Corridor at Sholinganallur and East Coast Road at Kudumiyandithoppu
is also included in Phase-I. As part of the Phase-II, two bypasses would be
provided in Kelambakkam and Thiruporu.
The big names of the industry have already started their projects on the OMR
– like,
DLF,
Purvankara,
Hiranandani,
Olympia, L&T, ETA Star, Vijayshanthi,
Akshaya Homes, etc. With such furious development of the
IT/ITES infrastructure, retail and residential spaces, the OMR is
fast becoming Chennai’s Gurgaon!