The city of Trivandrum stands on the threshold of a major overhaul in economy, development, infrastructure and population. With the city starting to accommodate a multi lingual population of diverse cultural backgrounds, the existing infrastructure of the city needs to be urgently upgraded to meet the future. But thanks to the inefficiency of the governing bodies - which have remained consistently constant, no matter which group is in power - many ambitious and essential projects envisioned for the future still lie confined to drawings on paper.

One developmental project that the city is in dire need of and which is yet to come free of its political entanglement is the renovation of the Chalai Street and Market. Chalai Street is as much famous for its jewelery and textile shops and flower and vegetable markets as  it is notorious for its overcrowded narrow streets and by lanes. And the buildings that exist on either side of these streets continue to be a throwback to the last century.

“A well planned project budgeted at nine crores has been sanctioned for construction by TRIDA (Trivandrum Development Authority) for the renovation of the Chalai market. It is as part of this project that the Attakulangara-Killipalam by-pass road was built. The plan is to build a modern commercial complex along this by-pass road and relocate the traders into this complex. The narrow street that currently runs through the market would then be reconstructed with increased width. The new Chalai Market would lie bordered by four wide roads on all sides. A lorry terminal would also be built within the complex for the better convenience of loading and unloading commodities,” explains Hari Prasad T R, Assistant Engineer, TRIDA.