MTC terminus to come up at Kilambakkam before March

 MTC terminus to come up at Kilambakkam before March

36,200sqft Facility Will Cater To Buses From Vandalur

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.12.2020

Commuters struggling to board MTC buses at the congested Vandalur zoo junction can from March use a spacious facility in neighbouring Kilambakkam. Delay in construction of the mofussil bus terminus for south-bound fleets at Kilambakkam has helped speed up completion of an MTC terminus on the same premises.

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), which is executing the mofussil terminus project, now plans to open the MTC terminal before March 2021. This will pave the way for shifting MTC buses from outside Vandalur zoo on GST Road to the built-up facility in Kilambakkam, helping ease congestion at the key junction.

The mofussil terminus was scheduled to be completed by March 2021, but the still raging Covid-19 pandemic has ensured construction will now be finished by December 2021. This has now helped the CMDA focus on finishing the MTC terminus, which was included in the mofussil project to benefit long-distance bus passengers alighting at Kilambakkam.

A housing and urban development department official said the government wanted to know if the MTC terminus could be finished by monthend. “But, it will take three months to complete all the work. It (MTC terminus) will be first facility to be inaugurated at Kilambakkam,” he said.

The MTC terminus will have 11 platforms over 36,200sqft, where buses from Vandalur zoo would be shifted. In 2002, after the CMBT came up at Koyambedu, buses on routes 15B and 27B, which were operating from Arumbakkam to Broadway and Anna Square, were shifted there.

Currently, buses on routes 19V, 21G, 70V and 91V, operated from Vandalur zoo to Sholinganallur, Broadway, Koyambedu and Thiruvanmiyur, are parked on both sides of GST Road at Vandalur troubling commuters due to absence of a shelter or terminus. It is also a bottleneck for motorists.

K Revant Kumar, a resident of Kandigai in the southern suburbs, said the problem had become severe after a bridge at Vandalur was opened because it is hard to turn from Vandalur-Kelambakkam High Road towards Tambaram on GST Road beneath the flyover, thanks to the parking of MTC fleets.

SOMETHING GOOD: Delay in construction of the mofussil bus terminus at Kilambakkam lead to authorities choosing to set up an MTC depot there