CHENNAI: Construction of Chennai’s new bus terminus at Kilambakkam near Vandalur has reached the final phase and the government is planning to open it for public use ahead of Diwali this September.
The terminus, which is being constructed at a cost of Rs397 crore to relieve the congestion within the city, was supposed to be inaugurated last year. Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has attributed delays to the pandemic.
Once the new terminus becomes functional, State Express Transport Corporation (SETC), which operates long-distance government buses, will no longer use Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT), Koyambedu. Passengers travelling to southern districts like Madurai, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and western districts of Coimbatore, Salem can board buses from Kilambakkam.
CMDA officials said nearly 75% of the work is complete and they were planning to finish it before September so that there was less congestion in city roads and connecting highway stretches.
Though it is a welcome move, residents of Vandalur, Guduvanchery and Singaperumal Koil say the plan might work only if the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) finishes the pending road expansion work on Tambaram-Chengalpet stretch of NH-45 before September.
G Ganesh, a resident-activist from Singaperumal Koil said that ever since private omni buses and vans of factories in Oragadam started using NH-45 instead of Bengaluru highway to avoid the toll plaza at Sriperumbudur, traffic has increased manifold and NHAI should have taken up expansion (four lane to six/eight lane) five years ago. “But only now, they have removed encroachments and started to lay roads and that too only on one side. This will allow free movement of vehicles entering the city and the other direction, which is the most chaotic every festive season and weekends, will remain congested if they don’t speed up the work,” he said.
A senior NHAI official in response said more than 90% of the work between Guduvanchery and Mahindra City is complete, and it will be ready in two months.
