CSML draws flak for incomplete infrastructure works in Fort Kochi

Construction debris strewn all around welcome tourists visiting popular locale

The half-baked infrastructure development works that were executed by Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) in Fort Kochi heritage zone and on the arterial K.B. Jacob Road that leads to the popular locale are posing safety hazards to motorists, residents and visitors to the area.

The inconvenience they cause can be gauged from the fact that construction debris, slabs and other materials remain on the footpaths and even on the tarred carriageway of K.B. Jacob Road, about a year after CSML terminated the contracting firm which undertook the works. Many areas of even the newly renovated Vasco Da Gama Square remain in tatters. Granite paver blocks are missing from the surface, posing danger to pedestrians, even as a sizeable quantity of these paver blocks has been heaped nearby.

Opposition leader in the Kochi Corporation and the councillor representing Fort Kochi Division Antony Kureethara said the entire smart road and allied works that CSML undertook in the heritage zone were progressing at an extremely slow pace. “None of the works has been completed, so much so that there are huge gaps between each component – be it road, footpath or drainage works. I had petitioned the agency many times, following which an official visited the site on Monday and assured that obstacles to free movement of pedestrians and motorists will be cleared,” he said.

“Three years is too much of a time for any agency to complete basic infrastructure works like roads and footpaths,” said Santosh Tom, the Ernakulam district president of Kerala Homestay and Tourism Society (Kerala-HATS). “Tourists and others are returning to the locale in large numbers after the pandemic. But they are welcomed by construction debris strewn all around the region and incomplete works.”

“All this shows slack supervision and attitude. Drains have been left open in many places, since none has bothered to cover them using the slabs that were cast in the vicinity. It speaks volumes of shoddy site management by CSML. Even worse, little has happened over two months since participants at a heritage walk, which was organised in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, were assured of steps to ensure cleanliness and safety of public spaces in the two tourism locales. The massive lamp posts that were installed on the footpaths are another eyesore. The least that CSML can do is to restore the historic Parade Ground to its lost glory,” Mr. Tom added.

Responding to concerns of half-baked works in the region, CSML sources said the heaped paver blocks will shortly be removed to another locale from Vasco Square. “The smart road works could have been completed but for the contracting firm being terminated due to its inability to complete the works. We hope to tidy the region in another fortnight,” they said.