Great Days for Heritage Zones

KOCHI: Fort Kochi and Fort Vypeen are all set to get a new lease of life. Aimed at preserving the heritage flavour of these most sought-after tourist destinations, the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) has formulated a project to revamp the heritage city. Once completed, Fort Kochi and Fort Vypeen will have a new look, say the DTPC officials.As per the project, a total revamp of Fort Kochi is on the cards. This will have nine components- renovation of bus stand complex, Vasco da Gama Square, Radio Station, Chinese nets, Parade Ground, Santa Cruz ground and Walkway. The total project costs `14 crore, of which `12 crore will be utilised for the Fort Kochi project and the rest for Fort Vypeen. Under the project, canopy trees will be planted on both sides of the road.Though a similar project was implemented during 2004-05, it could do  nothing to maintain the heritage beauty of Fort Kochi. “The renovation plan is being prepared by professor Ramaswamy, the renowned architect who has expertise in renovating heritage structures,” said DTPC secretary Jayasankar. “The plan has been submitted to the government and we are awaiting administrative sanction,” he added.  “Though the bus stand complex was recently constructed, its style is  completely against the concept of a heritage city. There is no heritage flavour to the construction and the structure needs to be renovated so that it fits the heritage destination tag. Even the architect who designed the plan to preserve the heritage look of Fort Kochi was not informed about the construction of the bus stand complex,” he said.Jayasankar added that there should be a mechanism by the Local-self Government Department to ensure that the heritage look of Fort Kochi is preserved.“The Corporation should take the initiative to evict the encroachers who run petty shops at Fort Kochi,” he said. The renovation project for Fort Vypeen include beautification of walkway and renovation of Our Lady of Hope Church and development of a park in front of the church. “The walkway at Fort Vypeen does not have benches now. Benches will be placed  and more trees would be planted,” Jayasankar said.