KOCHI: The city which lost its sheen in the wake of the Covid pandemic will soon allow shops and business establishments to remain open well past midnight hour. The new governing council of the corporation, which is working hard to implement the project, hopes the plan once executed will give the city’s staid nightlife a buzz. The civic body is planning to implement the project when the Covid-19 spread slows down in the state.
“Kochi is blessed with backwaters, parks, shopping malls and several other facilities. However, the city doesn’t have a nightlife worth mentioning since the shops and commercial establishments are closed by 10 pm. After Covid spread, the nightlife has come to an end even early. We are planning to ensure a city that never sleeps. As part of this, we have decided to implement the nightlife project,” said M Anilkumar, Mayor. According to the plan, the shops and establishments will be allowed to remain open till 2am.
Though the previous UDF-ruled corporation had planned to implement the project, the lack of coordination with stakeholders stopped the much-awaited project in its tracks. “It is not possible to implement the project in a day or two as we need to plan several things in advance. Since the Covid threat has not subsided, we need to wait for a couple of months for the pandemic to take a back seat. The Arts Space Kochi project started to encourage the artists in Kochi will soon be part of Kochi’s nightlife. We are carrying out the groundwork for this,” said the mayor. The corporation’s plan is to kick off the nightlife project at Broadway and Panampilly Nagar.
Though the corporation and Kerala Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce had signed an MoU on ‘Upkeep and Maintenance of Broadway’, as part of implementing the nightlife project, neither then UDF-ruled council nor the traders’ association took steps to implement the project.
“We will soon convene a meeting with the collector, city police commissioner, traders’ association, bus owners’ association and other stakeholders. Since more workforce is needed for facilitating night shopping, the traders need some time to plan it. Even transportation is important to keep the city alive. If everything goes per plan, by this year- end some of the city areas will be opened for nightlife,” said the mayor.