CSML to complete ₹100-crore Ernakulam market redevelopment in one-and-a-half years

The proposed three-storey market complex will have facilities like basement parking for 150 vehicles, dedicated pedestrian zones, exclusive area for auction, truck bays for loading and unloading, and smart waste compost machine

Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) plans to complete the ₹100-crore redevelopment of the Ernakulam market within one-and-a-half years.

Though the construction period was fixed at two years, the authorities have asked the contracting firm to speed up the process. “Our plan is to finish it within one-and-a-half years,” said CSML Chief Executive Officer S. Shanavas, as the demolition of the existing market began on Friday.

The proposed three-storey market complex will have facilities like basement parking for 150 vehicles, dedicated pedestrian zones, exclusive area for auction, truck bays for loading and unloading, and smart waste compost machine. The ground and first floors will be earmarked for the existing merchants. The complex will have space to host more number of stalls than the existing ones.

Merchants had started shifting to the temporary facility set up at a cost of around ₹5 crore from Thursday. The temporary stalls have been set up in 1.25 acres, around 100 metres away from the existing market. There is a loading and unloading area on the premises.

K.G. Venugopal, president of Ernakulam Merchants’ Association, said traders would fully cooperate with the redevelopment of the market. “We hope the construction of the new market would be completed within two years,” he added.

The project, which was caught in legal tangles, received a boost after the Kerala High Court granted permission to CSML to go ahead with it.

The court had also ordered that the disputed property near the market should be handed over to CSML to rehabilitate stall owners till work on the new market was over.

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