Foundation Stone Laid For Chennai’s Second Biggest Bus Terminal; State Of The Art Facility To Be Built In Two Years

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami today (22 February) laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Kilambakkam bus terminus built upon an 88.52-acre land at an estimated cost of Rs 417 crore.

The bus terminus will be located near Vandalur on GST Road in the outskirts of Chennai city.

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) had floated a tender for the construction of the new terminal which commenced eight years after being announced.

The terminus will cater to buses bound for southern parts of Tamil Nadu and is aimed at decongesting Koyambedu in the heart of Chennai.

The sprawling new terminus will have 250 bus bays wherein 165 bays will be reserved for government and the rest for private players. The terminus will have parking facility for 300 spare buses too. It will have facilities for parking cars (275) and two-wheelers (3,582 vehicles).

A separate bus stand is also proposed for buses to operate from Kilambakkam to Koyambedu and other parts of the Chennai city on five acres.

The terminus will have escalators as well as a separate facility for lactating mothers. It will have dormitories for bus crew, waiting hall for bus passengers and will have drinking water and sanitation facilities. The project will be executed in two phases.

Under the first phase, 8.79 acres will be reserved to build a commercial area, includes malls, food court, multiplexes and a hotel. A commercial centre will be constructed in the second phase.

Both these termini are likely to be connected by Chennai Metro Rail, which has begun conducting soil tests ahead of conducting a feasibility study to extend its services to these places.

One of the proposals is to extend the metro rail from Chennai Airport to Kilambakkam bus terminus.