4 years on, KMTA remains defunct after its launch

Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA) remains defunct despite efforts to revive it, causing concerns over urban transport management.

The Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA), India’s first such authority with legislative backing, is yet to be revived and revamped despite the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) taking up the matter with the State government. It has remained defunct since its launch on November 1, 2020.

The urban transport division of MoHUA had forwarded two petitions to the Chief Secretary after members of a city-based social media collective took up the matter with the ministry in January 2024 and in November 2024, urging that the State government revive and revamp the KMTA.

The KMTA has remained inactive primarily due to the non-allocation of personnel and funds by the State government. Its only two employees—technical experts—resigned a year ago, citing the lack of an administrative system.

“The authority was launched with much fanfare to address the commuting woes in Kochi’s urban agglomeration but has failed to achieve any of its goals. It is defunct, has so far failed to attain any of its goals and might even close down,” said Richard Rajesh Kumar, a member of the collective and a lawyer, who raised the issue with the Union Ministry.

“The KMTA held immense potential to implement technology-based solutions for traffic management, transport planning, design of transport systems, and also to detect and report traffic-related offences to the authorities concerned. It also failed to prepare a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) and an Urban Transport Fund that were among its primary mandates mentioned in the Kerala Metropolitan Transport Authority Act, 2019,” said Mr. Kumar.

With no action taken despite MoHUA’s directives, a follow-up petition was sent to the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary in October 2024, said Arjun P. Bhaskar, another member of the collective and an IT professional. “We were forced to send the follow-up petition since the State government made little effort to revive the KMTA that held immense potential to augment, improve, and streamline transport infra in the Greater Kochi area. The MoHUA has once again forwarded the petition to the State government. It is also pertinent to note that KMRL had to procure 15 electric feeder buses, primarily due to KMTA’s failure to do so on a larger scale, he added.

Sources in Kochi Corporation said that the demand to revive KMTA was taken up with the Transport Minister and officials of the Transport department, in November 2024. “They assured that steps will be taken in this regard.”