THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The move to give a smart makeover to the 18th century Chalai Market - one of the oldest heritage markets of Kerala - has been scuttled again with the government deciding to scrap the smart road project under the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) to revamp the crucial arterial road linking Attakulangara and East Fort.
The project aimed to transform the 600-year-old market into a vibrant tourism and commercial hub. The Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (SCTL) had come up with the Umbrella Street project to give a much-needed facelift to the centuries-old market. This apart, a slew of other beautification projects were planned, including better walkways and other utilities for visitors.
A senior official of the KRFB told TNIE that the tender floated for the smart road project to develop the main arterial road at Chalai Market has been scrapped.
“The review meeting held recently decided not to go ahead with the project due to the ongoing delays in the smart road works. Also, we tendered the work twice and the bid amount was way higher than the expected cost. Escalation was over 44 per cent and we had to re-tender the work,” said the official.
The official added that many other beautification projects also will now be scrapped. “We will carry out resurfacing of the roads and reconstruction of the drains.”
The Chalai Market has seen numerous development initiatives falter in the recent past. The repeated setbacks have raised concerns about the lack of progress in revitalising the historic commercial centre.
Around five years ago, then tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran had launched the Chalai Heritage Street Project. The plan was to rejuvenate themarket and transform it into a tourism-cum-commerical destination like the iconic SM Street in Kozhikode.
However, other than a few shops being built, the project didn’t see much progress. The tourism department and SCTL had sanctioned `26 crore for it.
Chalai ward councillor Simi Jyothish said the smart road works have adversely impacted the trader community. “Dug up roads and unending road works have resulted in low footfall. After the pandemic, the situation has worsened. The road project was scrapped as the traders are scared that the work will go on for months or prolong more than a year, and that would be end of the market,” Simi said.
The plan was to convert 11 arterial roads inside the market into smart roads. Three of them belonged to KRFB and have been scrapped now. Pedestrian-friendly amenities, parking facilities and arches at the entry and exit points were also in the plan.
‘No biz in due to parking crisis’
According to the traders, the market has lost over 40 per cent of the business owing to lack of parking and the road works.
“Now, home deliveries are available and there are centralised places like malls. We lack parking facility and the ongoing road works in and around East Fort are turning customers away,” said B Vijayakumar, secretary, Grains Merchants Association.
There are over 5,000 shops and more than 20,000 workers at Chalai Market. Chalai Unit general secretary and district secretary of Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti S Dileep said crores of public money has gone down in the drain in the name of promoting heritage and tourism in the market.
“They have scrapped the project at Chalai and are busy redeveloping Gandhi Park - the only parking facility for people coming to the market. For the past two months, our business has been nil because of this. The authorities are wasting money on a meaningless new project even as the long-pending one to develop the market has been scrapped,” said Dileep.
An official said a final decision on the heritage project will be taken only after more discussion with stakeholders. “There will be further discussion especially with traders. A section of traders are for the project,” said the official.