Broadway bus stand, HC Metro & Fort station to be recast as transport hub

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to handover the project to redevelop Broadway bus stand into a transportation hub to the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), sources said. According to a Corporation official, CMRL would interlink Broadway bus stand, High Court Metro Rail station and Fort Railway station under the redevelopment project.

Before deciding to handover the project to CMRL, the civic body had contemplated implementing it using its own fund, government allocation or government-approved loans.

“Earlier, we were mooting to implement the project under public-private partnership (PPP) mode to generate revenue. The project is not viable for the civic body, so Metro Rail will take up the project,” the official said.

As per the detailed project report, a multi-storeyed building will be constructed at Broadway bus stand, which will have bus bays, parking facilities for private vehicles, and office and commercial space to be rented out to private firms.

The official added that a major portion of the revenue from the transportation hub would go to CMRL, while a minor share would come to the Corporation as the land belongs to it.

It may be noted that CMRL has redeveloped the lawn and beautified the vacant space inside the Ripon Building premises as a part of the Central Square project. The existing landscape inside the premises was damaged while constructing Central Metro Station a few years ago. It also developed the vacant space under Kathipara flyover into Urban Square.