COIMBATORE: Over Rs 40 crore of tax payers' money have been laid to waste as uncertainty looms large over the Integrated Bus Terminal (IBT) project works at Vellalore, where works remain suspended for over a year.
The project, which would include separate terminals for mofussil buses, omni buses and town buses, was proposed in 2019 on 61.62 acres of land at a cost of about Rs 168 crore by the AIADMK government. Despite objections raised by social activists, general public and omni bus operators, the then government launched the project in January 2020. However, the works were temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak and stopped completely after DMK came into power.
The project was to be executed with 50% of government funds and rest from Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) funds. The civic body had applied for a loan from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), which was turned down allegedly because of issues in land ownership. In 2021, the corporation submitted a loan application with the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (TUFIDCO) which is still pending.
Member of the Coimbatore Road Safety Panel
K Kathirmathiyon, who is also the secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause told TNIE that Vellalore was not suitable for the IBT project due to various issues. "Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced a 'bus port' project for Coimbatore and Salem districts around seven years ago and even appointed a dedicated project officer through the highways department. The officials prepared a report on the issues at Vellalore and asked the state government to address them. But the latter without addressing them went ahead and started the project on their own, which is the root cause for the problems now. If it is constructed despite the issues, it will turn into another useless bus terminus like the one at the Mettupalayam Road,"he said.
Pointing out the issues, Kathirmathiyon said that the presence of the city's dump yard, the construction of a large STP, lack of wide approach roads for buses and other reasons make Vellalore unfit for the project and added that as the civic body had already built around Rs 40 crore worth of structures, it can be converted into a wholesale vegetable market like the Koyambedu market in Chennai.
With the presence of the dump yard and the Coimbatore Metro Rail Project's hub likely to come at Vellalore, the current government is looking for another location to establish the IBT, said sources.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Prathap said they shall maintain the status quo until the state government takes the final decision. "We've sent a report to the Tamil Nadu government along with the suggestions made by the RITES organisation which studied the project. The government will decide the fate of the IBT project, " he said.