The decaying wholesale flower market at Mullickghat, under Howrah bridge, is finally set to be replaced by a five-storeyed market complex, which will also be India’s first international flower auction centre.

Four years of talks on the project ended last week, with the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Corporation, on behalf of the state food processing and horticulture development corporation, submitting a Rs 25-crore proposal for the market complex to the building department of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

The market will come up on 4.9 bighas, of which 2.5 bighas have been handed over to the horticulture corporation by the Calcutta Port Trust. The rest have been taken over from other agencies.

Mullickghat Phoolbazar Parichalan Samity chairman and member of Parliament Sudhanshu Sil said the Agricultural Product Export Development Agency of the central government has sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the project. The rest of the funds will be raised through bank loans and contributions from the Phoolbazar Parichalan Samity.

City-based IWIN has been engaged as project consultant, Sil added. “The market will be ready in a year, once the civic approval is obtained.”

Besides the auction centre, the sprawling structure will house a sorting-grading-packaging unit, a cold store, a laboratory to extract oils from flowers, a guest house and a revolving eatery on the top floor.

“Talks are on with Tokyo’s OTA Floriculture for a technological and marketing tie-up,” said Sil. OTA general manager (sales) Toshio Hirano is keen on a technological and commercial tie-up with a buy-back guarantee, the MP added.

Japan has the third largest international flower auction centre, after the Netherlands and Singapore. The country imports roses worth Rs 750 crore from the Netherlands, Thailand, New Zealand and China.

Bengal, on the other hand, produces 6,500 tonnes of flowers every year and stands third in the country, after Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, in production.