Muvattupuzha municipality has prepared a plan to convert its long-shut Urban Haat into a food street, seeking to reuse an underperforming public asset while creating space for food, entertainment and local commerce. The proposal is part of the Future Muvattupuzha project, which aims to bring idle municipal assets back into use and generate revenue for public-benefit initiatives.
Urban Haat was built with Kudumbashree funds sanctioned in 2011 along with municipal funding and was inaugurated in October 2015. It was intended to provide a venue for displaying and selling handicrafts, but the facility did not operate effectively even for a single day, according to the report by the Times of India. The site has remained shut for years.
The municipality is now exploring a different use for the facility. A team led by Regina, Kudumbashree district mission coordinator, visited Urban Haat and noted that approval could be secured to repurpose the premises. The municipality has subsequently prepared a detailed project report for developing the site as a food street.
The proposed work includes removing the sealed walls to create an entrance, expanding rooms and renovating the open stage. These changes are intended to convert the unused facility into a food-and-entertainment hub that can accommodate visitors and support local commercial activity.
The municipality expects the proposed food street to attract visitors from beyond Muvattupuzha. It has linked the project to wider objectives including tourism promotion, employment generation, stronger local commerce and increased municipal revenue. The plan also reflects an effort to change the use of a public facility whose original handicrafts-focused model did not become operational.
The Urban Haat project was initially supported through Kudumbashree funding and municipal finance, making its revival a question of how existing public investment can be put to productive use after prolonged closure. The municipality’s current approach is to adapt the site rather than leave it unused, while retaining the facility as a publicly managed asset.
The report does not specify the estimated cost of the proposed renovation, the number of vendors the food street could accommodate, or the timeline for construction and opening. The immediate next step is the consideration of approval for the proposed change of use and implementation of the works listed in the project report.
