Palayam Connemara Market revamp gains steam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Efforts are in full swing to rehabilitate as many as 400 traders to facilitate the project to revamp the century-old Palayam Connemara Market under the Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (SCTL). Recently, SCTL along with the political representatives held a meeting with the vending community at the Connemara Market to address their apprehensions regarding their rehabilitation and redevelopment of the market which has been long pending. Palayam ward councillor Palayam Rajan said that the traders were fully convinced with the rehabilitation plan and are ready to relocate to facilitate the construction.

The SCTL will construct three temporary rehabilitation blocks to relocate the vendors at TRIDA-owned land near the market. Around 2,000 tonnes of accumulated legacy waste were biomined and removed to facilitate construction of rehabilitation blocks. According to SCTL officials, preliminary works have already kicked off at the site. The plan is to set up temporary structures made of prefabricated materials to rehabilitate the traders. Revamping of the Palayam market has been pending for more than a decade now.

“The construction work of the rehabilitation block will be launched next week. Its temporary structures would be completed within six to eight months. There have been some disputes and concerns and now all those issues have been settled. It’s one of the dream projects of the City Corporation and finally it’s becoming a reality,” said Rajan.  

SCTL had spent around Rs 94 lakh for biomining, which involves the process of using strong inoculums to extract non-biodegradable waste from heaps of accumulated waste to clear the site where the rehabilitation blocks are coming up. The rehabilitation project is expected to cost around Rs 12.68 crores. 

An SCTL official said the project would be launched soon after the completion of the rehabilitation blocks. “It will take 24 months to complete the revamp project,” said the official. The whole project is expected to give a fresh lease of life for the iconic market and cost around Rs 113.62 crore. 

As part of the project, a hi-tech fish and meat market would be constructed on the ground floor and the traders would be given designated stalls in the market. The first and second floors of the market would be used for commercial purposes. In addition to the parking area in the market, the authorities are also planning a multi-level car parking facility worth Rs 32 crore near it.  The upcoming parking facilities are expected to ease the parking crisis on MG Road.