Coimbatore, 5/8: The gigantic Periyakulam Lake spread of 300 acres in the heart of Coimbatore was polluted, encroached upon and reeked of filth till a few years ago, but now it shimmers in the sun and has become a major recreational space in the historic city.
This transformation has been brought through a smart city project to revive and rejuvenate seven of the city’s centuries-old lakes which were historically used as part of the irrigation system in the area.
“Cleaning and rejuvenation of this cascading system of lakes is the biggest project under the Coimbatore Smart City since our city was selected for the initiative. Work on it began in 2017 and we picked up revival of these seven lakes as a major and ambitious project under the smart city to not only rejuvenate the natural ecosystem, but also create more recreational spaces in this fast-developing city,” Coimbatore’s Municipal Comissioner M Prathap said.
Prathap, who is also the CEO of Coimbatore Smart City, on Friday gave a PowerPoint presentation on the various projects being undertaken under the initiative for which the city was selected in 2016, at the Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC), the nerve centre of the control and monitoring of various IT-driven project