Massive Water Metro terminal in Fort Kochi may be scaled down

It follows protests by heritage enthusiasts over the location of the structure and KMRL commencing construction without the mandatory permit from Cochin Port Trust, which owns the area

The massive 20,000 sq.ft. Water Metro terminal-cum-commercial complex on the Fort Kochi beachfront is likely to be scaled down to less than half the extent. This follows protests by heritage enthusiasts over the location of the structure and fresh trouble brewing in the form of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) beginning construction activity without the mandatory permit issued by the Cochin Port Trust (CPT), which owns the area.

The location of the terminal in between the iconic Chinese fishing nets that dot the beachfront had drawn considerable flak, including from the Kerala Art and Heritage Commission and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). They have all along been demanding that the terminal be readied at Kamalakadavu, which has an unused ramshackle boat jetty owned by the Kochi Corporation and a tourism jetty nearby. A case in this regard is pending before the Kerala High Court.

The CPT had, in its reply to an RTI application sought by former Mayor K.J. Sohan, who is the State convenor of INTACH, had said on February 21 that it had not issued permit to KMRL to construct the terminal (which was to be let out for commercial use too). With the revelation under RTI stirring up a hornet’s nest, CPT sources said on Thursday that “the matter will be examined and resolved, if need be.”

“A terminal complex spanning approximately 7,000 sq.ft. looks sufficient for the locale. The rest of the vacant land [that the CPT had handed over to KMRL for terminal construction] could be used to highlight the heritage aspects of the area. The around ₹4 crore spent on piling and allied works for the terminal could be treated as ‘fait accompli’,” sources said.

Heritage enthusiasts have been maintaining that the area that the CPT had given to KMRL on a 30-year lease in 2020 to construct the terminal-cum-commercial space, once housed the Santa Cruz Church, said to be then oldest European Church in Asia and later on Fort Immanuel, the remnants of both remain buried beneath.

On the commencement of construction without the CPT’s permit, Water Metro sources said the port trust had approved the design and layout of the building. “They [CPT] even permitted us to demolish a few heritage buildings in the area. Moreover, the Kochi Corporation had issued its building permit,” the sources added.

Mr. Sohan said the terminal envisaged by KMRL would protrude a few metres into the beach that abuts the busy shipping channel, well beyond the space where a walkway demarcated the beach and the land, in violation of coastal regulation norms. “This is apart from the fact that many layers of history lay buried beneath the area. It is atop all this that a 75-metre-long multi-storey building, which will blight a view of the sea, has been proposed. It will destroy once and for all the celebrated tourism potential of Fort Kochi,” he added.