KOCHI: With the Kerala State Housing Board (KSHB) going ahead with the plan for setting up an International Exhibition City on Marine Drive, Ernakulam, a collective of like-minded citizens have expressed apprehensions over the environmental impact of the project. Citing that the project has been proposed on the land adjacent to Mangalavanam, the office-bearers of Better Kochi Response Group (BKRG) said the site should be used for the development of a botanical garden rather than highrises.
“Better Kochi Response Group (BKRG) has proposed a botanical garden on this great eco-sensitive land adjacent to Mangalavanam. We had written to the chief secretary and informed the chief minister’s office to refrain from laying the foundation stone for this project. Interestingly the ceremony was hurriedly done in Thiruvananthapuram probably after they came to know about BKRG’s proposal,” said BKRG president
G Gopakumar.
He alleged that vested interests were behind the project. Gopakumar also alleged that the 17.9 acres of land where the project has been proposed were government land and the housing board had been keeping it undeveloped for a long time to seek reinvestment through private sources. “Housing board’s prime duty is to make affordable housing and not to indulge in commercial projects like this,” he said. The KSHB officers were unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, the housing board is planning to float Expression of Interest (EoI) for the `3,105-crore project soon. The Exhibition City will mainly consist of permanent venues which will adopt eco-friendly policies and host international trade fairs, Grand Kerala Shopping Festival, Kerala Design Festival, motor shows, various conventions and other festival fairs. The International Exhibition City project area will be divided into various zones for various functionalities.
The Tourism Zone would have exhibition venues, play areas, stalls, rest rooms, accommodation facilities, parks and food corners, the Convention Zone would be venue for public meetings and conventions while the Events Zone will have auditoriums for functions like marriages.
In addition to this, there will be an Office Zone, where Corporate office spaces and banking institutions would function. The plan will be implemented on a PPP model.
Meanwhile, the KSHB officers have clarified that the state government would not have any liabilities on this project. The project will come up in a PPP model and the state’s investment would be the land which it holds.