The Greater Chennai Corporation will start planting more trees and develop an eco-park along the banks of the Adyar from the airport to Nandambakkam and along the banks of the Cooum near Island Grounds.
A 4-km-long eco-park along the Adyar from the airport (towards the second runway bridge) to Nandambakkam will be created by the Corporation before the onset of this year’s northeast monsoon.
Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi ordered officials to start planting more trees along Adyar river. “We will start planting saplings of indigenous species. Residents will be permitted to visit the park. It will be a walking space for residents. The work will start in two weeks,” said Deputy Commissioner (Education) D. Sneha. “We will also plant flowering plants in Island Grounds along the Cooum,” she added.
The 31 species of trees to be planted include arjun, peepal, portia and golden shower trees. Different species will be planted along the edges, bund and slope of the waterway.
Work on planting saplings along the Adyar, near the Kotturpuram MRTS station, has already begun and more than 60,000 saplings will be planted this month. The greening of the playgrounds along the Adyar will also be launched in June.
Shelved projects
Meanwhile, some of the proposed stretches for greening along the Cooum have been shelved owing to the development of an elevated corridor along the waterway.
The greening along Swami Sivananda Salai will not be taken up because of the elevated corridor from Maduravoyal to Chennai port, an official said. As many as 13 ramps will be developed along the Cooum for this corridor. As a result, major projects such as the nature trail on College Road in Nungambakkam have also been shelved.
Decision on construction of bicycle tracks along the waterways will be taken shortly. The civic body has already proposed bicycle tracks along waterways to promote non-motorised transportation. The first bicycle track has been commissioned along the Buckingham Canal on the MRTS corridor.
