A cultural zone, which can be utilised as a permanent venue for the Kerala Literature Festival, is among the main components of a development project planned by the Tourism Department for the Kozhikode beach, one among the nerve centres of the city.
District Tourism Promotion Council secretary Benoy Venugopal told The Hindu on Sunday that the project had been conceived by A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, Kozhikode North. “The ₹4-crore project envisages creating a cultural space from the main stage till the Lions Park. The main stage will be repaired and two more stages will be constructed close to it,” he said. The stages could be used as venues for the literature festival, which, in the past two years has turned out to be a major platform for debate and cultural programmes.
According to sources in the department, the Kozhikode beach is unique on its own as the coast is situated parallel to the city and extends to kilometres on the western side. It is one of the tourism hotspots in the city frequented by travellers from across the State and outside and has a potential for development. The project to develop the area from Government General Hospital to Puthiyappa, which falls under the Kozhikode North Assembly Constituency, was approved by the department recently. The first phase of the project will be launched by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran here on Thursday.
Mr. Venugopal said the pavement along the beach would be tiled and saplings would be planted to give an aesthetic touch and the area surrounding the light house would be spruced up. A food kiosk too would come up in the area. Uralungal Labour Contractors’ Cooperative Society had been given the contract for the construction work. In the subsequent phases, an adventure zone and sports zone had been planned, he added.
