The State government has issued an order permitting Kochi Metro Rail Limited to revive its roofed walkway project linking Ernakulam Boat Jetty with Maharaja’s College Ground metro station through Hospital Road.
The metro agency can go ahead with the walkway project through Ernakulam General Hospital. The project will be tendered in mid-September. A project to build a cycle track on the other side of the road through land owned by Maharaja’s College is pending.
The initiative was mooted to enable seamless integration between the metro and waterway transport. Bollards will be erected to separate the landscaped walkway and the road.
The project had been shelved temporarily following opposition to acquiring 12 cents of land of Maharaja’s College and 15 cents of Ernakulam General Hospital. The college demanded compensation for its land while the hospital demanded fund to construct the foundation of a multi-storeyed building on its premises. They also cited paucity of land.
“There is no provision to pay compensation since the land belongs to two government agencies. Moreover, metro funds cannot be used for the project,” metro sources said.
