DPR to be prepared for biodiversity conservation park in Chengalpattu
The Biodiversity Conservation Park has been planned in an area of 137.65 hectares in partnership with Kew Gardens of London
Representative Image
CHENNAI: State forest department has commenced the process to establish a Biodiversity Conservation Park in Kadambur in Chengalpattu district and invited consultants to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and other designs for the park, which was announced during the state budget session of 2022-2023.
According to a document, the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board (TNIDB) is providing assistance to the forest department to select a consultancy firm that has experience of developing large scale botanical gardens and biodiversity parks within and outside the country. The government has announced plans to implement the project at a cost of Rs.300 Crore.
The Biodiversity Conservation Park has been planned in an area of 137.65 hectares in partnership with Kew Gardens of London. The entire land selected for the project, which was classified as Kadu Poramboke earlier, has also been handed over to the department of environment, climate change and forest. The selected site is located 17km away from Vandalur Zoo and 32km away from the airport.
Even though the site is close to 1,104 hectares of Gudalur Reserve Forest, it is surrounded by urban settlements like Maraimalai Nagar municipality, Mahindra World City and Oragadam Industrial Area.
As per the document, the objectives of the Biodiversity Conservation Park is to develop a nature park to collect, display and conserve wide variety of flora from across the state and to develop a botanical enclave with flora from regions such as mountains, forests, plateaus, riverine and coastal. The Park will also have a herbarium.
The Park will provide real-time information to the public about the rich biodiversity of Tamil Nadu including indigenous and exotic plants from various agro-climatic regions. The facility will also function as an ecotourism destination. Apart from housing plant and tree species, the park will have wetland boardwalks, nature trails, cycle path, bird viewing platforms, watchtowers, tree house, landscapes of ancient Tamil Nadu and an open air auditorium among others.
It may be noted that the state government had released an order to set up the park in December 2022 based on which the consultants to prepare DPR have been invited. The project is expected to be completed before 2027.
