Kadapakkam lake in Chennai to turn into eco park – Times of India

Chennai News
CHENNAI: Soon, residents of North Chennai need not travel to core city areas to catch a glimpse of an eco park. The Greater Chennai Corporation is turning a lesser known lake in Manali’s Kadapakkam into an eco park.
Spread across 149 acres, this will be the city’s biggest eco park, and will feature amenities such as boating, skating area, cycling lane, walking space, fi shing area, bird island and children’s play area to name just a few. The park is part of the corporation’s Rs 149 crore package for lake restoration announced in the budget last week.

The restoration will help increase the water holding capacity of the lake from 1.1 million to 2.2 million cubic meters. The lake will be deepened by two metres.
As of now, the lake is heavily polluted. It is also not fenced, giving access to people to come in and dump garbage. All this will change once the eco park takes shape.

The civic body has prepared a detailed environmental examination report for the restoration of the lake and has submitted it to the Asian Development Bank for funds. S P Balasubramaniam, superintendent engineer of stormwater drains department, said a DPR is being prepared and they are expecting a budget of about Rs 40 crores to carry out restoration work as per initial estimates.
The restoration is being done as part of the Kosasthalaiyar basin fl ood mitigation project. “There are already a lot of amenities for south and central Chennai but not so much for north Chennai. This will help people get access to good quality leisure space,” he said.
To encourage tourism activities, the civic body is also setting up a huge parking area for vehicles. It also hopes to tap in some revenue from parking and leisure amenities.
Since the Manali Kadapakkam lake is primarily used for agriculture, the civic body will be building a sluice gate to release water for irrigation at regular intervals. It will also have a fi ltering pond to purify water which comes from Sembium Manali lake.
Corporation commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said the idea of the water body restoration is to protect the lake and simultaneously, create leisure space for people.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/kadapakkam-lake-in-chennai-to-turn-into-eco-park/articleshow/90855838.cms