Old Mahabalipuram Road was a god-forsaken 'street' of Chennai until not long ago. People used to clamour for a plot of land on the New Mahabalipuram Road. Only those who were interested in having a darshan of Lord Muruga at Thirupporur wpuld take the OMR. It was the heaven of the lower middle class people. One ground of real estate in the OMR would cost about thirty thousand rupees as against a lakh and a half at the more up-market stretch of the New Mahabalipuram Road.

Only after the PTC quarters came there, did the PTC buses start plying on this ill-illuminated stretch. However, everything has undergone total transformation in just five to seven years. If you have not visited the OMR for the past five years, you can hardly recognise the area now.

The IT corridor or the Rajiv Gandhi Salai, as it is known today is truly a dream fulfilled. This is the first public-private partnership project in the world where the private company does not take away any profit and moreover, any surplus obtained at the end of the project will be further invested for future projects.

Of course, the artery of international standards was to have been ready by December 2005, as per the original plan. It had to cross several hurdles and clear many a bottleneck. The stretch from Madhya Kailash to SRP tool junction was ready six months back. The good news now is that the remaining work on the main carriageway up to Siruseri would be completed by April end. The Toll Plaza would become operational by May. The work on the service roads and lighting would be completed by September.

When the entire work is completed, no doubt, it would be the latest landmark of Chennai.