While Kochi may not have remained the same old city, Broadway is well on its way to reclaiming its past image, with the Kerala Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce set to ink a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kochi Corporation for the upkeep of the stretch as part of an ongoing beautification initiative.
The corporation has taken the lead in paving the road from the CSI Church up till Alappat Jewellers with tiles, with a proper drainage and cable duct to boot, in the first phase of Broadway beautification drive. The second phase, due to get under way now, will have the entire stretch up to the market beside canal at the terminal end and the approach from the Sealord side getting the much-required civil works.
Concurrently, the merchants will chip in to erect cast-iron lamp posts, 52 in all, and have tied up with Kudumbasree to clean the stretch of garbage on a regular basis, says G. Gopal Shenoy, general secretary of the Chamber. The MoU with the Coporation is to be signed on Tuesday.
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KSEB has already agreed to shift all overhead power cables underground, which is sure to give the street a facelift.
“Everything that a shopper needs is available at Broadway, but the business is dull these days because of various reasons. Besides beautifying this historical shopping street, we will also be facilitating operation of a few top-quality mobile restaurants offering all kinds of cuisines – South Indian, North Indian, Punjabi, chats etc – as after 9 p.m., quality restaurants are hard to find open in the vicinity. Proper security of the street is another area of focus. There’s also a plan to put up iron park benches wherever the road is wide. Parking is a teething issue and the corporation, it is expected, will come up with a solution,” he says.