Mangalore: A Phoenix City

My home town of Mangalore is making news for all the developments taking place in the heart of the city. Silently but rapidly a new modern city is emerging from the historical town. Beside all the main roads we see new buildings being constructed in place of old tiled shopping complexes. In some places there is no usual noise of traffic, as these roads are getting upgraded. Even the outskirts of Mangalore is not spared. These are targeted for building townships, IT campuses and recreation spots.
As soon as an old building gets demolished, the stories start to cook up among the people, as to what the new building is going to be. Some construction companies are kind enough to show a blue print on a hoarding. But most of the big projects never give the final sketch until the real one is built. If skeletal structure resembles other usual building, people think it will be another appartment or some shopping complex. If it is too weird, then they say it will be a Mall or multiplex.
Besides Bangalore and Mangalore there is hardly any sky scrapering city in Karnataka. Bangalore after the phenomenal IT & BT boom, has almost reached a saturation point. I had heard a lot about Bangalore being air-conditioned city and less polluted mega-city in my school days. But What I witnessed in Bangalore is quite opposite. Bangalore based companies are now planning to come out of the hustle bustle of our capital and move to less crowded cities. Cochin, Mangalore, Mysore, Pune and Coimbatore are the much talked about cities which may soon start a race with Bangalore.
Keeping these possibilities in mind, lot of projects are progressing in the coastal town. Mangalorean buildings were always famous for its architectural excellence. To continue this tradition there are many projects coming up in the city.
I thought I would share some details about some of these projects, Some of them are already built, some on the process of construction and some still on the paper.
Pot hole filled roads are the mark of Mangalore. From Suratkal to Talapady all the roads including National highways are in bad shape. I pity on the drivers and vehicle owners. Slowly the authority has shown its presence by initiating the upgradation of these roads. Highways will soon be converted into four lane roads. The main roads are also getting new looks with concrete work, deviders, street light and hopefully footpaths.
For more than a decade Saibeen complex was the only one shopping mall in the city. It has the credit of being the pioneer of Malls in south india.

        

Recently, Bharath Mall and Empire Mall have started operating in the city. The list of new malls planned in the city is big. This includes Excell Mall, Mischief Mega mall, Mohtisham City Centre Mall, (all three in K.S.Rao Road) Time Square (Kadri) and Pio Mall (Kodailbail/Karangalpady). Besides this, 300 crores project of 625,000 sq feet mall near AB Shetty Circle by Prestige group is also on paper. There will be a grand new mall erected on the barren land opposite to the TMA Pai International convention centre on MG Road very soon. M.G.Road will see another mall The Forum in due course of time.
Nilgiris supermarket, Ameoba, Amazon, Coffee Day, Pizza Corner, Yo-China and Dollar store are in Empire Mall. Bharath Mall has Adlabs Multiplex, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Depot, PlanetM, Pizza hut, Pantaloons, Coffee Day, Adidas, Reebok, Provogue, Planet Fashion in it. “Mohtisham City Centre Mall” will be one of the biggest malls of South India. It has a retail space of half a million square feet. It will house many international brands including Spencers and McDonalds. A 5 screen multiplex called ‘Fun Cinemas’ will be opened in this mall. With these malls night life in Mangalore is also going to be more colourful. People need not stick to only Liquid Lounge, Zero degree, Froth on top or Pegasus any more. There are more to come.

TMA Pai International Convention Hall is one of the biggest in Asia. This state of the art building with other shopping malls will give a whole new look to the MG Road. Other malls mentioned above will make K S Rao Road even more crowded.

There are many big names planning to start their office in mangalore. Infosys which has a beautiful office in Kottara, is building a big campus near Konaje. Wipro and other companies will join this line soon.

Mangalore is definitely growing very fast. But it should not forget its own culture. With the rapid fast developments Mangaloreans sadly have to accept the bitter truth of western culture aswell.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Mangalore:MALL Maala-MALL
• Mangalore not hit much
• Government offices flooded with queries from people under RTI Act – KRIA
• Mangalore, Port of many colours