Work on integrated bus terminal at Karikkamury to kick off in February

Work on the integrated bus terminal proposed on land owned by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) at Karikkamury in Kochi would kick off in February, it was decided on Sunday, following a visit to the premises by a team led by Industries Minister P. Rajeeve. The terminal will be built on the lines of the Vyttila Mobility Hub, where both KSRTC and private buses converge.

Work on the integrated bus terminal proposed on land owned by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) at Karikkamury in Kochi would kick off in February, it was decided on Sunday, following a visit to the premises by a team led by Industries Minister P. Rajeeve.

The terminal will be built on the lines of the Vyttila Mobility Hub, where both KSRTC and private buses converge. The possession of the 2.90-acre premises will be handed over to Vyttila Mobility Hub Society (VMHS) on Wednesday, while the ownership will continue to rest with the KSRTC, which will hand over land needed for a 1.50-metre-wide footpath. But the entry and exit of buses will be through the same corridor, reportedly since the KSRTC is reluctant to part with approximately 30 cents that will be needed to hew out a separate exit that could have lessened congestion. It has, however, offered to provide land for a separate exit, if needed, at a later stage, it is learnt.

Preparatory works like soil testing will be done, following which a detailed project report (DPR) for the bus terminal will be readied in another 20 days. This will be followed by the inking of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the KSRTC, VMHS, Cochin Smart Mission Limited, and Kerala State Construction Corporation Limited (KSCCL) in Thiruvananthapuram, in the presence of ministers and officials. The integrated bus terminal will be built by KSCCL. It will have a bus shelter and waiting area, apart from toilets, in phase one. The deadline to complete the project will be decided on the basis of the DPR.

Those who visited the premises on Sunday included KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director Biju Prabhakar, Managing Director of VMHS and KSCCL M.S. Madhavikutty, CSML Chief Executive Officer Shaji V. Nair, MP Hibi Eden, MLA T.J. Vinod, Mayor M. Anilkumar, and District Collector N.S.K. Umesh.

The development comes close on the heels of a meeting convened by the Chief Secretary and the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) handing over a traffic assessment study report to VMHS on the project. CSML had allotted ₹12 crore to VMHS to develop the bus stand on land owned by the KSRTC. A report on the vulnerability of the land to flooding and containment measures was awaited by the month-end, informed sources said.

The traffic study report by NATPAC had suggested separate entry and exit for the bus terminal to avoid congestion, said Mr. Eden. “I apprised stakeholders about the need to speed up the bus terminal project since the tenure of CSML is set to expire in June,” he added.

Mr. Prabhakar said the requisite land would be marked and handed over to VMHS the coming week, so that KSCCL could commence construction work. “Yet another project for commercial development of the adjacent four-acre land where the KSRTC bus stand is located will follow suit.”