Cuttack, Feb. 11: A solution has been found to overcome space constraints at the biggest cloth wholesale market in the state. The Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) has zeroed in on land for setting up a specialised cloth market complex in the city. With this initiative, Cuttack’s famous market need not move out of the city.

Vice-chairman of the CDA Rabi Narayan Nanda told The Telegraph that a plot of 15 acres had been identified for the project.

The proposal for relocating the cloth wholesale market in Cuttack was endorsed at the authority’s general body meeting last week.

“We will soon appoint a ‘transaction advisor’ to prepare within six months a project plan along with a business model for submission for approval by the government,” the CDA vice-chairman said today.

The earmarked land is located in Sector 12 of Markat Nagar, the satellite township being developed by the CDA on the south-western fringes of the city.

The plan to relocate the market was mooted after a preliminary survey indicated positive response from 85 per cent of the 227 cloth merchants in the city in August last year.

“The cloth market complex has since been conceived as a mega initiative to address the increasing and ever-changing demands of wholesale textile and retain it in Cuttack,” Nanda said.

At present, the cloth wholesale market in Cuttack is located in the Nandi Sahi, Jhola Sahi and Pithapur roads. It is still the biggest in the state. The market with 200-odd shops caters to the entire state.

But there has been an increasing demand for more space. Cuttack Cloth Merchant Association president Mohanlal Jain said: “The wholesale market in the city has been an unmatched cloth trading hub in Orissa, but its growth is becoming stunted because of constraints of space and congestion at its present location.”

“At present, the annual turnover of the cloth wholesale market in Cuttack is around Rs 500 crore. Relocation to the proposed specialised cloth complex will certainly give a boost to the market which has a much higher turnover potential,” Jain told The Telegraph today.

He said the association had already communicated the expectations of the cloth merchants during a recent meeting with CDA officials.

The CDA vice-chairman said the project aims to create an improved infrastructure and room for better delivery mechanism for the cloth wholesale market in Cuttack which has an estimated 3-4 times bigger turnover potential.

“We plan to have a residential complex of high income group apartments to complement the commercial business,” Nanda said.

The Cuttack Chamber of Commerce’s general secretary, B.K. Mohanty, said: “The project promises much needed infrastructure support for development of the city’s wholesale cloth market and to turn it into a major wholesale cloth trade centre in the eastern region.”

Sources said the constraints of space for the growth of cloth wholesale market in Cuttack had forced several merchants to look for other places across Orissa for expanding their business in recent years.