KMRL eyes value-capture finance to mobilise alternative revenue

Those located 500 m away from metro corridor may have to pay more tax

Faced with mounting operational expenses and fall in patronage, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) is readying plans to increase non-ticketing revenue, including through value-capture finance. This comes in the wake of fear that Kochi metro’s loss this fiscal will be much more than the ₹310-crore loss it incurred in 2019-20, with the pandemic ruining hopes of an increase in passenger footfall and income from real estate and advertisements. “The metro agency is currently heavily dependent on the government for its sustenance. With any increase in income from passenger footfall a far cry, plans are afoot to garner income from value-capture finance. In this, direct beneficiaries of the system of mass rapid transport like commercial establishments and houses/apartments located 500 m away from the metro corridor can be brought under a higher tax structure (whereby a portion of the tax paid will go to the metro agency) . This is because they benefit considerably from transit-oriented development (TOD) that the metro ushered in during the past four years,” informed sources said.