Panchapur is ideal location for IBT, say experts

Stating that the proposed site for the Integrated Bus Terminus in Panchapur is a meeting point of national highways, infrastructure experts in the city observed that Panchapur is the most viable spot for the project in Trichy. The semi-ring road project is also touching down the vicinity, they said. Locals also turned down the proposal for the terminus in Kottapattu, stating that the terminus would be very near to the compounds of railway workshop and the central prison. Since the international airport is a stone's throw away, any security protocol in the airport may affect the functioning of the IBT.
"Shrinking the available area in Panchapur site to 27 acres show the short sightedness of the authorities. Being a transit hub, Trichy deserves a full-fledged futuristic integrated bus stand larger than the Koyambedu bus terminus and on par with the proposed bus port in Salem," V B Jaganath, member Trichy Intra-City Development Endeavours (TIDES), said. Even as several patches of vacant lands are available in Panchapur, the civic body has showed the quantum of readily available land as 27 acres.
The proposed site at Kottapattu has vast sprawling land of 90 acres, but is a land locked area with no major highways except for the Pudukkottai-Ramanathapuram highway. With the absence of wide approach roads, locals claimed that the cost of the project would escalate as approach roads have to be built. "If IBT comes up in Panchapur, a new connecting road can be established between Panchapur IBT to the International Airport via KK Nagar," said M Muthuganesan, executive member, TIDES.
Locals also said Panchapur site was side-lined because the site was proposed by the previous DMK regime. "A lot of projects are coming up near the Panchapur corridor such as integrated vegetable market, semi-ring road, and SIDCO trade centre. As Panchapur is away from heart of the city but connected well with the highways, traffic inside the city will remain unaffected," said A Swamy, independent road traffic analyst.

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