Tenders floated Rockfort Teppakulam project

Tiruchi City Corporation has floated tenders for ₹25 crore renovation and beautification of the Teppakulam of Sri Thayumanaswamy temple and its environs.

The project though was originally proposed as a part of the Smart City Mission in 2019 faced many timeline delays.

The makeover project was conceived to preserve the cultural antiquity of the famed Rockfort Teppakulam and its beautiful environs. It has been decided to lay a recreational park, walk ways, heritage style arch and the illumination with heritage style lighting around Teppakulam. A sound and light show would also be part of the beautification project.

“About seven architects have expressed their interest in the makeover of Teppakulam, (originally constructed by Madurai Nayaks during 17th century) into one of the top cultural attractions of the city, and the winning bid of the selected agency would be placed before the council for approval, this month” said N. Ponmani, Corporation Commissioner.

The desalting work of the temple tank was completed a couple of days back, though it was started in May and it had to face funding problems. But, HR& CE funds and corporation capital funds were channeled in after ₹1.56 crore were spent from the CSR corpus initially. . An eviction drive had also been conducted to clear various road stretches of NSB Bose road, and Burma Bazaar of its vendors, who were given alternative sites and locations.

The beautification works have already begun and greening of the Teppakulam area has been taken up with 200 flowering tree saplings (Tabebuisa rosea) and watered regularly.

“The Teppakulam would be filled with water from the Cauvery River as the works have been completed” said a Corporation official.

The city residents, who have been waiting for the beautification project to take shape would heave a sigh of relief if the project takes off on time and completed to attract more domestic and foreign tourists to the famed Rockfort city.