Civic body plans spot of greenery over Metro station

The Chennai Corporation has plans to develop a park over the Chennai Central Metro station, which is all set to become the largest Metro station in India.

Currently, the largest Metro station in India is in New Delhi.

At a meeting with Chennai Corporation authorities on Friday, officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) agreed to a proposal of extending the Ripon Buildings Park over the underground Metro station in Chennai Central.

Waterproof structures will be created over the station to facilitate the creation of the park. A portion of the park, which will cover more than six acres of the premises of Ripon Buildings and Victoria Public Hall, will be developed on a waterproof concrete slab area, measuring 210 metres by 10 metres.

Visitors to the Ripon Buildings Park, Amma Maaligai and Victoria Public Hall will have access to the Central Metro station through some of its seven entry points. The three-level Metro station will cover a length of 410 metres and will have a width of 35 metres.

The Corporation has decided to conduct a competition for the design and development of the park over the waterproof structure. The competition will open in October, and the winner will work on developing the park with support from the Corporation’s engineers.

CMRL had declared a deadline of December 2016 for completion of the work on Central Metro station. At the meeting on Friday, CMRL officials agreed to complete the work by June 2015 to facilitate the development of the park in July.