A boat jetty, marina and allied amenities of global standards near Marine Drive will soon be a reality as Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding as part of the proposed ₹819-crore Water Metro project.
The agreement was signed by Konain Khan, General Manager (Operation, Maintenance & Water Transport) of KMRL, and M.C. Joseph, GCDA Secretary, in the presence of C.N. Mohanan, GCDA Chairman, and Elias George, KMRL’s Managing Director, on Wednesday.
A high-power committee comprising representatives of the GCDA and the KMRL has been formed to brainstorm the implementation of the project. The committee is likely to come up with a design and investment pattern for the project in a month’s time. The integrated jetty facility and marina will accommodate water metro operations, and will have the capacity to accommodate nearly 150 tourist boats, which will provide safe and secure access to tourists and passengers, without affecting free movement of pedestrians on the Marine Drive walkway.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Mohanan said the State government had allotted the GCDA ₹4.50 crore for developing a boat jetty of global standards alongside Marine Drive when Kochi Metro came up with the Water Metro project. “The GCDA will now hand over the land proposed for the project to the KMRL which has the professional expertise to execute it in a time-bound manner,” he said.
Mr. George said the Water Metro, aimed at making local communities dotting the Kochi backwaters part of the city’s growth story, would turn out to be a real game changer for Kochi. The boat jetty to be developed in association with the GCDA will be the first of the 38 jetties to be set up by the KMRL in connection with the Water Metro project.
He said that Water Metro would go beyond the proposed 78 vessels and 38 boat jetties as it aimed at providing a slew of other facilities, including internal roads for the benefit of local communities, deployment of electric buses for facilitating their transportation up to boat jetties, extending technical assistance to the local bodies concerned to undertake the required work in modern ways, and much more. “We were a bit scared as the proposed 38 jetties were owned by different agencies. The GCDA has to be appreciated for their enlightened approach of joining hands with the KMRL. We now hope that other local bodies will follow the model set by the GCDA,” Mr. George said.
The 78 vessels to be procured under the Water Metro project by 2021 will link the city with surrounding islands, West Kochi, and other coastal regions, becoming an extension of Kochi metro, and also a water-based feeder service for the metro. The first lot of boats are expected to operate in the water corridor by the last quarter of 2018. The project envisages the development of 16 routes, connecting 38 jetties across 10 islands, and spans a total route network of 76 km.
