Upcoming sprawling urban forest in Chennai – Guess where?
A surprising piece of information for the residents of Chennai now!!
After GCC or Greater Chennai Corporation completes the bio-mining process, the dump yard at Kodungaiyur would become an urban forest.
It is known that the dump yard in Kodungaiyur previously created issues when the huge mountain of rotting garbage was set on fire by some rag pickers. The groundwater became unusable as dangerous chemicals leached from the accumulated waste. Here, the Rs 648 cr bio-mining project has been going at a fast pace. This project has already processed a 2 lakh metric tonne of waste from the dump yard till now. This was mentioned by Mr. J. Kumaragurubaparan, GCC Commissioner.
The civic body would reclaim the 250 acre land after the completion of the bio-mining process and the forest dept would plant native tree species. It is learnt that the GCC has asked the contractors to increase the processing capacity to 10000 tonnes per day.
There are some issues regarding seamless power supply at adequate voltage and for that the contractors have requested Tangedco to set up transformers. From the middle of February, the processing would be increased to 10000 tonnes per day and steps have been taken now.
Instead of Miyawaki forest, native species would be planted by the forest dept and the reclaimed land would be converted into an urban forest. The maintenance work would be carried out by the Chennai Corporation later.
How bio-mined soil would be used?
It is learnt that the bio-mined soil would be used in the parks and playfields in Chennai. The bio-mined soil would also be given for agricultural purposes in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram etc.
From February to September, bio-mining would be carried out in full swing as the dumping ground would become slushy when the NE monsoon begins again. This was revealed by the GCC Commissioner. He added that in another 18 months, the bio-mining process would get over.
Important piece of information is that the bio-mining process would be carried out in 6 packages and it has been awarded to 3 contractors. The Chennai Corporation or GCC would share Rs 378.09 cr and Union govt would share Rs 160.21 cr and TN govt Rs 102.53 cr.
