A view of the Green Park at Panjapur in Tiruchi where an integrated vegetable market will come up.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
Tiruchi Corporation will soon float a tender for constructing a new integrated vegetable and fruit market complex in Panjapur on the Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway.
Around 22 acres of land in Green Park has been allotted for the market, which is estimated to cost ₹236 crore. A sum of ₹120 crore has been sanctioned by the State government from the Infrastructure and Amenities Funds (I&A Funds) and ₹100 crore will be raised by floating municipal bonds, the remaining ₹16 crore will be given under the Corporation’s General Funds.
Officials said that an agency had been finalised to carry out the credit rating of the bond issue. The process of floating the bonds and raising funds is under way. Anticipating administrative sanction in a few weeks, a senior Corporation official said, the tenders would be floated by March to identify a suitable contractor. A detailed project report (DPR) for the new market had been completed.
Cold storage facility
The two-storey market complex will house over 800 shops with a cold storage facility, including shops for wholesale operations on the ground floor. It will have separate segments for wholesale and retail vendors and the wholesale shops will have a spacious floor area.
The civic body planned to shift the wholesale traders of Gandhi Market and the ‘Vazhakkai mandi’ functioning on East Boulevard Road to Panjapur, close to the cluster where construction of an integrated bus terminus, a multiutility facilities centre, and a truck terminal are under way.
In order to retain the green cover, the Corporation is considering translocating the trees to safeguard the medicinal and local plant species of the park.
Elevated highway near the upcoming Integrated Bus Terminus and widening the Thuvakudi and Panjapur sections to a four-lane highway are on the cards as various projects are proposed in the area.
Published – February 16, 2025 06:43 pm IST