The Chalai Heritage Street project is set to undergo significant modifications after dropping its initial plan to mirror Kozhikode's SM Street model. Tourism minister PA Mohammed Riyas will chair a high-level meeting this month to finalize the revised project features.

The SM Street model project was dropped due to a shortage of funds from the Smart City project. However, Minister Riyas intervened and addressed the funding gap by combining tourism department resources with smart city allocations. The date for the meeting will be finalized soon. Meanwhile, eight roads leading to the market are currently undergoing renovation and are expected to be completed by mid-January.

The project's implementing agency, Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (SCTL), has been directed to prepare a revised plan ensuring completion before March 31, 2025, following demands from local shop owners.

"The heritage project hasn't been scaled down," said MLA Antony Raju. "While the eight-road renovation continues, the upcoming meeting will determine further modifications as we secure additional funding from the tourism department." The govt is actively seeking an efficient contractor to complete the smart road development, he added.

A senior smart city official confirmed that the first phase, linking eight roads to the main Chalai market road, will be finished by Jan 15. The main road will be constructed as a new smart road but the plan to lay interlocking tiles has been abandoned.

The deadline for all the smart city projects is March 31, 2025. The re-modification of the heritage street project will take place without the evacuation of traders from the market. As per the new decision, the foremost priority will be to enable smooth road connectivity to the market by renovating the adjoining roads. The market will have eight access points and have an octagonal shape.

Earlier, the fund allocated for the project by the state govt for the 2016–2021 tenure lapsed due to the delay in execution of the project primarily caused by opposition from the traders in the market.

The major work pending is the restructuring of the street to make it pedestrian-friendly and to modify the buildings, enhancing their aesthetics.

Launched with much fanfare in 2018, the project promised to incorporate a variety of features to make Chalai a commercial and tourist destination. The vegetable market renovation is the only work that has been executed so far. The second phase will introduce the core heritage street elements.