Entertainment starved Coimbatore will have a good news to rejoice, as the civic body in a joint venture with Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) has decided to introduce boating service at Valankulam.
According to a Corporation official, the revenue sharing model would be 70% to TTDC for the operational costs and 30% to the civic body for the space that it provides.
Valankulam is at present divided into three and the space near the Tagendco Sub-station is classifed as A and the space that exists beyond the road (that connects Tiruchi Road near Classic Towers and Valankulam bypass) is classified as C. The space that exists between the road and the railway line is classified as B and it is exactly the place where the boating facility is going to come up.
The earlier venture by the civic body to introduce boating at Singanallur tank went awry. The service introduced in 2019 became non-functional due to water hyacinth and efforts on to revive the same never fructified.
As of now, the VOC park is the only recreational facility for Coimbatoreans with the continuance of the Corporation Zoo remaining uncertain. For recreation and entertainment, Coimbatoreans always had to look at Valparai, Aliyar, Top Slip or the nearby Nilgiris, which is time consuming and expensive too, says Jayalakshmi Ramesh, a resident of Co-operative Colony near GV Residency.
Sources in the Corporation said that there are many tanks in the city that are taken up for beautification. Depending on the success story of Valankulam, boating service may be extended to other tanks as well.
