Construction of key Water Metro terminals picks up pace

Prime Minister to launch Water Metro project on April 25; Hibi Eden, MP, decries shifting of the project’s launch venue to Thiruvananthapuram

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to launch the Kochi Water Metro project in Thiruvananthapuram on April 25, the construction of key ferry terminals has picked up pace anticipating the roll-out of the entire fleet of twenty-three 100-passenger ferries by year-end.

Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has so far done trial runs of eight ferries to operate on the High Court-Vypeen and Vyttila-Kakkanad routes. Among the routes that will be covered subsequently include the High Court-Fort Kochi route. This has tremendous potential to woo commuters, especially so since the road route is congested and takes about an hour to cover. In addition, the Customs Jetty of the State Water Transport department (SWTD) is located around a kilometre away from the Fort Kochi heritage hub, prompting commuters to walk up to Fort Kochi or rely on autorickshaws.

Official sources said the extent of the terminal complex was considerably reduced from the original plan to have a 20,000 sq.ft. structure. This is being seen as the aftermath of widespread protests by heritage bodies and others who held that such a massive concrete structure in the heritage zone, that too tucked between Chinese fishing nets, would spoil the aesthetics of the locale.

While the Water Metro terminal at Fort Kochi is nearing completion, work on the equally important terminal at Mattanchery is yet to pick up steam after retendering. Commuter associations, tourists, and trade bodies such as the Kerala Handicraft Dealers and Manufacturers’ Welfare Association have been on the warpath, demanding speedy completion of the terminal and inauguration of the adjacent SWTD terminal whose overdue renovation is getting over.

In the meantime, Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden decried the delay in commissioning the Kochi Water Metro project and shifting of the project’s launch venue to Thiruvananthapuram on April 25. “Both Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan have insulted Kochiites by not launching the project which is one of its kind in Asia, in Kochi. The PM who will interact with youth in Kochi on April 24 ought to have launched the project from here itself. Mr. Vijayan must clarify why the PM’s programme was charted out in such a manner. It is a mystery that the project, whose launch was delayed by so long in order to get the PM’s date, is being launched from another city.”

Maintaining that he was not consulted on the matter, Mr. Eden hastened to add that he came to know of the project’s launch in Thiruvananthapuram through the media. “I have registered my protest with the PMO, the CM’s office and the Union Urban Development Ministry,” he said.