New Ernakulam market set to open in November

Ernakulam market set to open in November with 213 shops, parking, and amenities for hygienic conditions.

The new Ernakulam market would be thrown open to business in November, an achievement that was a matter of pride, said Mayor M. Anilkumar on October 16 (Wednesday).

He said the date for the inauguration had not been fixed yet, but it was certain that it would be opened next month. The entire gamut of work on the new complex, built under an initiative of Cochin Smart Mission and the Kochi Corporation is complete, and the facility is ready for operation.

The demand for rehabilitation of business at the iconic Ernakulam main market, one of the largest such facilities in Kerala, has been long pending, and a plan of action was drawn up around five years ago. The market is a century old and has been at the centre of commercial activities in Kochi.

The new complex will have 213 shops, space for parking 150 cars, a waste treatment plant, adequate water supply, open space, skylights, and amenities to ensure hygienic conditions.

N.H. Shameed, general secretary of Ernakulam Market Stall Owners’ Association, said the shop spaces had been distributed on the ground and first floors. The Association is 50 years old and has shared the life and growth of the market over the decades.

He said fish, meat and poultry businesses would be on the first floor, and that the ground floor would mostly be occupied by vegetable sales. The market is the hub for all products ranging from meat and eggs to vegetables, bananas and other fruits, provisions, banana leaves, coir, stationary items, traditional bamboo, and screw pine leaf products.

Mr. Shameed said there were around 130 vegetable sellers in the market out of a total of 213 members in the merchants’ association.