Kochi gets little for road development vis-a-vis other cities

Kochi metro receives ₹289 crore for expansion, while Water Metro gets ₹159.60 crore; Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode metro projects progressing.

The Kochi metro has been allotted a sum of ₹289 crore, and another ₹26.37 crore has been set apart for its non-motorised projects (those like footpath redevelopment works on and off the metro corridor).

The funds would come in handy for the metro’s 11.20-km Kakkanad extension. On its part, the Kochi Water Metro got a total of ₹159.60 crore, which would be used to procure more ferries and to build more terminals, among others, it is learnt.

Welcoming the inclusion of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode metro rail projects in the Budget, Loknath Behera, managing director, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), said the metro agency had readied comprehensive mobility plans for metros in the two cities and handed them to the government. The draft detailed project report (DPR) for the Thiruvananthapuram metro that was readied by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is already with the government. On its part, KMRL would ready a DPR for the Kozhikode metro once the government made an announcement, the metro agency said in a release.

Interestingly, barring allocation to resurface / redevelop short stretches of roads, there was no noteworthy allocation in the Budget for new road corridors to decongest Kochi city, apart from ₹15 crore that could be used to develop existing roads and to ready a cluster of roads. These had found mention in a memorandum in this regard that was recently submitted to the Finance Minister by the Kochi Corporation. The roads included K.P. Vallon Road, Goshree-Mamangalam Road, and Palluruthy Parallel Road.

The civic agency had also specifically demanded ₹10 crore to redevelop the dilapidated KSRTC bus stand and its premises, and ₹5 crore to beautify the Fort Kochi beach and for beach-protection measures. The bus stand redevelopment has been hanging fire for the past many decades.

On the contrary, a total of ₹5,207.43 crore has been allocated in the Budget to develop 48 roads in five cities — Kannur, Kozhikode, Alappuzha, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram through Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) funding. These road works are under progress. Neither does Kochi find mention in the government’s City Road Improvement Project (CRIP) that was launched over a decade ago in these cities. A sum of ₹741.67 crore has already been spent under CRIP in these cities.