The Coimbatore Corporation on Wednesday began demolishing its nine shops located in the Omni bus stand on Sathyamangalam Road to facilitate road widening and construction of the Gandhipuram flyover.
The buildings belonged to the Coimbatore Corporation, which had leased them out to private parties through tender. The demolition of the nine shops would free up around 6,671 sq.ft of area. Six shops were located inside the bus stand while the rest were in front of the slaughter house. The bridge, being constructed at a cost of Rs. 132 crore, is expected to be completed by April 2017. It starts from Nanjappa Road and ends near the Omni bus stand.
According to sources, the State Highways Department had sought the land on Sathyamangalam Road for constructing pillars to supporting the bridge.
The land being freed now after the demolition of the shops will be used to construct pillars and works are expected to start in a couple of days.
The shops were vacated on Tuesday. The civic body had issued notices to the shop keepers nearly three weeks ago.
However, the shop keepers urged the Corporation to allot space for them once the new bus stand becomes operational at Neelambur.
The State Highways Department will also demolish the drains located on the roadsides and construct new drains near the road end after which it will lay service roads.
