In three months, passengers flying out of Chennai airport will have a better view of the place when they walk past the terminals as there are plans to revive the vertical garden.
This garden will be visible from the terminals and also the connecting tube that links the landside to the airside (the area closer to the runway).
“We plan to have about 40 different varieties of plants in this space; in a few weeks, we will decide the kind of plants to be used. It will improve the aesthetic look of the buildings,” an official said.
Also, as part of this work, the greenery near the Chennai Metro Rail station located inside the airport premises will be improved.
“The estimated cost of the entire horticulture project is about ₹40 crore,” he added.
Many airports across the world like Changi airport in Singapore and Chicago’s O’Hare airport have vertical gardens.
This vertical garden is not new to the airport; it was developed as part of modernisation of Chennai airport that was carried out five years back. But sources said owing to lack of maintenance, it had wilted sometime ago.
Gerard A Xavier of Greenscape Solutions, the firm that has created over 300 vertical gardens across the city including the Mylapore railway station, said, public spaces like airport certainly need to have such gardens.
“People coming to the airport have mixed feelings; not all of them travel in a happy state of mind or go on vacations. So, having such gardens will better the environment and also distract them a bit,” he said.
Varieties of plants
He noted varieties such as Signoniums , Philodendron , Ceylon Gold and ferns can be used.
“It is extremely important to maintain such plants well. They can adopt drip irrigation method to water the plants; also, the mother soil must be changed every 2-3 years,” he said.
