Complexes to get facelift

The Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority (TRIDA) has drawn up a plan for the upkeep of its 14 shopping complexes, including those made to rehabilitate vendors displaced during road expansion work.

Waking up to criticism of the poor maintenance of its shopping complexes, the development authority has charted the plan that envisages a facelift for its main centres at medical college, Palayam, and Kesavadasapuram.

TRIDA chairman P.K. Venugopal said lack of proper maintenance, especially at its Medical College centre, had taken a toll on the buildings. The complex at medical college, which was constructed in 1988 and occupied by traders the subsequent year, would be refurbished after consultations with the owners.

Water shortage

The immediate task before the authority, he said, was to address the shortage of water that had affected the business interests of traders at the complex.

“Providing uninterrupted water supply to the traders is our first priority. We will soon construct a borewell inside the premises to address the water shortage.”

The problem at the medical complex is that of the 59 shops, 55 were given on lease for 99 years, and the authority gets an annual maintenance fee of Rs.21,000. “The amount is paltry. It is not sufficient to meet the expenditure of maintaining the shops,” he said.

Mr. Venugopal said as far as its centres at Kesavadasapuram and Palayam were concerned, there were issues that needed to be addressed, and a committee would be formed soon for the purpose.

He said the two centres together generated a revenue of more than Rs.1 crore annually. The annual expenditure involved in maintaining them came to nearly Rs.30 lakh, which included salary for the security guards and electricity and water charge.

Shops vacant

The revenue from the Palayam complex, Mr. Venugopal said, was expected to go up once the 50 shops kept vacant for rehabilitating vendors displaced during widening of MG Road were allotted to them.

The vendors had not occupied the shops as an amicable rent agreement could not be reached, the chairman said, adding that the authority was hopeful of arriving at a solution by next month.

TRIDA was also working on ways to make a one-time settlement of a Rs.12-crore loan taken from Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO), Mr. Venugopal said.