A stretch of the wholesale cloth market at Pithapur in Cuttack on Sunday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Sept. 5: The wholesale cloth market here may soon move to a new address. The Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) is planning to shift the congested market to a specialised complex at Markatnagar.

A 15-acre plot near the Biju Patnaik Park in the satellite township would house the cloth market complex, CDA vice-chairman R.N. Nanda told The Telegraph today.

The CDA decided to go ahead with the project last week after a preliminary survey indicated positive response from 85 per cent of the cloth merchants in the city.

“The cloth market complex is a mega initiative. The idea is to cater to the increasing and ever-changing demands of wholesale textile business and retain the market in Cuttack, which continues to be the biggest in the state,” the CDA vice-chairman said.

The plan also envisages to build a residential complex comprising high income group (HIG) apartments along with commercial business centres. “An appropriate organisation will soon be asked to submits plan for approval by the government,” he added.

The wholesale cloth market is at present located on the Nandi Sahi, Jhola Sahi and Pithapur roads.

The market with around 250 shops caters to the entire state and has an annual turnover potential of around Rs 3,000 crore. “The proposed project will boost cloth business in the city, which has a unique identity for being the unmatched cloth trading hub in Orissa,” Cuttack Cloth Merchant Association president Mohanlal Jain told The Telegraph today.

“The project apparently aims at contributing to the development of Cuttack’s wholesale cloth market, which faces space constraints. The new complex with more space will have improved infrastructure and room for better delivery mechanism. If the plan is realised, it will become of major wholesale cloth trade centre in the eastern region,” general secretary of Cuttack Chamber of Commerce B.K. Mohanty told The Telegraph today.

The CDA has also decided to construct a shopping mall and multiplex in Markatnagar. “We have earmarked a 30,000 sqft area in Sector 9 for the project. We plan to float tenders to welcome investment as per our specific conditions on the shopping mall and multiplex,” the vice-chairman said. The CDA, which has an annual revenue of around Rs 8 crore, has decided to spend Rs 2 crore to develop roads in Markatnagar and Mahanadi Vihar.

“The work will be completed before Dussehra,” CDA officials said.