Commuting woes, shoddy roads make travel to Fort Kochi a nightmare

KOCHI

Goshree islanders and visitors to Fort Kochi to view the Cochin Carnival and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) are having a harrowing time as one of the two roll on-roll off (ro-ro) ferries that linked Vypeen and Fort Kochi is under repair, while the container ro-ro has been stopped even as traffic snarls and parking problems are getting worse.

On its part, Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) is facing flak for not installing new lamp posts in the place of those that were pulled out, with the result that many parts of the heritage locale get engulfed in darkness after dusk.

“With one of the two ro-ro ferries out of service, the Kochi Corporation not commissioning a third one, and inadequate ferry services by the State Water Transport Department (SWTD), commuters from Vypeen and the mainland are having a tough time reaching Fort Kochi, which is hosting the Cochin Carnival and Biennale after two years. Taking the road route is cumbersome and long winding, while traffic snarls have become an issue on either side of the potholed Mattancherry BOT bridge and at Thopumpady,” said a tourism official.

Office-bearers of the Carnival, traders, and residents have been blaming CSML for the mess that footpaths leading to Fort Kochi have become, thanks to the agency not clearing slabs, pre-cast drains and debris from footpaths. They blamed the Kochi Corporation and the police for not pulling up CSML officials since footpaths and road shoulders have been in the same condition for the past two years.

The Carnival committee has decided to install 1,000 stars on K.B. Jacob Road that leads to the heritage locale to make up for inadequate street lights, it is learnt.

Admitting that there was delay in renovating the corridor as a smart road owing to work being retendered, sources in CSML attributed the delay in installing street lights to the need to lay underground power cables. “This was further delayed by the Kerala Water Authority [KWA] not completing pipe-laying work. We have, however, managed to tar-patch the trenched portion,” they said.

CSML is also facing flak for delay in completing the Calvathy bridge that links Fort Kochi and Mattancherry. The proliferation of steel barricades and confiscated vehicles near the Fort Kochi police station have compounded problems in the locale while eating up space that could have been used to park visitors’ vehicles.