Govt. releases ₹100 crore for Kochi metro’s Kakkanad extension

State government provides ₹100 crore to KMRL for Kakkanad extension, speeding up construction and addressing funding issues.

The State government has belatedly handed over ₹100 crore to Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) to take ahead the ongoing Kakkanad extension work that had considerably slowed down during the past several months due to paucity of funds.

The ₹100 crore is part of the State’s equity for the project and has been handed over, while the Centre is expected to sanction its commensurate share of equity worth ₹100 crore shortly, metro sources said.

The ₹100 crore that was handed over by the State government would come in handy to fast-track piling and related works for the elevated viaduct for the ₹1,957-crore extension that has been proposed in the 11.20-km-long JLN Stadium - Kaloor - Infopark corridor. Efforts are under way to deploy more hydraulic rigs for piling, the sources said when asked about the absence of rigs in a bulk of worksites that were barricaded at a width of eight metres in October.

On whether the State government has sanctioned ₹8 crore that KMRL had estimated as the expense to clear bottlenecks on traffic diversion roads and to widen chocked junctions, they said it would hopefully be done shortly.

The handing over of ₹100 crore by the government has brought some relief to the metro agency that was banking heavily on a $122.32-million loan from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the lending agency for the project. This amount is yet to be handed over, although KMRL has fixed June 2026 as the deadline to complete the viaduct. The rest of the work in the viaduct and stations ought to be over by the end of 2026, according to schedule.

Commuters, people’s representatives, residents’ associations, NGOs like Thrikkakara Development Forum, traders, and bus operators had repeatedly expressed their concern at the innumerable barricaded worksites of the metro’s Kakkanad extension remaining idle, primarily due to non-availability of funds.

Metro officials said the timely disbursement of the loan, apart from prompt handing over of Central and State funds, was critical to expedite the construction of the viaduct.