Residents of locali ties added to the corporati ion's jurisdiction in 2011, in cluding Nolambur and Peru ngudi, will get six new parks some of which will have walkways, skating rinks drinking water and children play areas.
The corporation had pu on hold several park projects due to a fund crunch but has now decided to revive them.
The green spaces are set to come up on 7th Cross Street in Phase 1 of Nolambur, an open space reserve (OSR) on Nath amuni Street at Thiruvalluvar Nagar in Perungudi, two parks on Anna High Road in Perungudi and on two plots of land allocated by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board at a yet undisclosed location. All the parks together are expected to cost more than `7 crore.“We will call for tenders now and work will finish within three months,“ said a corporation official.
Residents of the areas where these parks have been planned are excited. “We don't have any parks in Nolambur. If corporation completes the project, it will be the first of its kind here,“ said Federation of Nolambur Residents' Welfare Associations secretary N Ravindran. “Every apartment complex has an open space reserve which is where all the children play now,“ he said.
The corporation promises the city a hundred new parks every financial year but didn't put up a single one last year and there is a backlog from previous years. When contacted, an official of the parks department simply said, “It will be done soon.“
Recently , staff in the corporation's regional offices in the north, central and southern parts submitted to top officials a list of locations that require parks. The civic body will have to identify OSR (open space reservation) lands or acquire land to develop more parks.
Around 40 OSR sites, pri marily in the south of the city, have been identified to be turned into parks in the first phase. Delayed land transfer was one of the main reasons for the parks being stalled.For a brief period last year the parks department was headless and short-staffed.
But environmentalists say civil society too has a major role in the upkeep and cleanliness of parks.
