In prime real estate in Chennai, stands a large, unfinished, multi-story complex of over 1.6 million square feet. It is the former future Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and Secretariat Complex. When finished, the buildings were to house the state assembly, as well as offices of the chief minister and cabinet minister. It was to be a breathtaking structure.
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| Artist's rendition. Source: The Hindu |
Construction was initiated by the DMK (a political party) majority government. The project was initially budgeted at 7 billion rupees (US$156 million). That seems cheap, by US standards, for a building of this size. Remember though, labor is cheap in India.
The state legislature moved into the unfinished complex in the Spring of 2010. Maybe they had to move in because Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, came all the way from New Delhi to inaugurate the building. Not to occupy the building after the PM showed up would be embarrassing.
However, unless your name is Kim Jong-Il, political power is ephemeral. The DMK government was replaced by the AIADMK (another political party) majority government. The new administration decided to move the government offices back to Ft. St. George. After all, why would you move into a place that your opponents built? So, after only 16 months, the new complex was abandoned.
The Chief Minister has stated that the buildings will be the future home of a hospital and a medical college. I guess no-one told her, but it ain't cheap to retro-fit an office building as a hospital. Anyway, over US$100 million in taxpayer funds has gone into this and who knows how much more.
Nice building though.
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