Integrated bus stand work starts in Coimbatore

The bus stand, with facilities such as overnight rooms for commuters, restaurants, shops and other amenities, is expected to be completed in two years

Coimbatore will soon have an integrated bus stand near the Coimbatore Corporation’s dump yard. Work to construct the ₹168 crore bus stand on 61.62 acres began on Friday, with Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani participating in the ground-breaking ceremony.

Over the next two years, the Coimbatore Corporation will construct the bus stand. The State Government will fund 50% of the project cost and the Corporation will bear the rest by borrowing the money from a Central Government agency.

The bus stand will have have 140 bays for outstation buses, 112 bays idle parking, 18 disembark points, 33 bays for town buses, 104 parking lots for four-wheelers and 1,200 two-wheeler parking lots and will help around 3 lakh people, said a Corporation release.

The bus stand will provide overnight rooms to commuters who would arrive late at night, rooms for resting for drivers and conductors, separate enclosures for feeding mothers, restaurants, shops and other basic amenities, the release added.

Speaking at a function organised to mark the inauguration of the project, Mr. Velumani said the project was aimed at de-congesting Coimbatore city and helping the city keep pace with its fast-paced development.

There will also be an elevated corridor from the Chengapalli-Walayar bypass road to the bus stand.

The project is the latest in the State Government’s efforts to provide the infrastructure required to the second-largest city in the State and a series of projects aimed at bringing development that the city had not witnessed in the last 50 years.

The Government chose to construct the bus stand in Vellalore because it was where the land required for the project was available.

Mr. Velumani also said the dump yard that was close to the bus stand site would not be a problem because the Corporation had devised a ₹60 crore project to clear the accumulated waste using modern techniques – a reference to the bio-mining project that the civic body would take up to process the accumulated waste and recover the land.

Corporation officials said the civic body was at present not involved the elevated corridor that the Minister spoke about. The civic body has not yet written to the State Highways Department to widen the roads around the bus stand. Given the two years’ time required to complete the bus stand project, there was time on hand for the Corporation to write to the Highways Department.

The officials said the civic body had also not thought of what to do with the bus stands in Singanallur, Gandhipuram or Ukkadam. It would, perhaps, take a decision in the coming months.