The Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) hopes to earn approximately ₹1,000 crore from sale of affordable apartments and other amenities at the integrated township it has envisaged at Kakkanad for meeting operation and maintenance expenses of the metro.
The income from this and the Metro Village mooted at Muttom will also come in handy to fund metro’s extension to suburban towns.
Evaluation of firms
A dozen firms have so far responded to the tender for expression of interest (EoI) to entrust a firm with the task of building amenities in 17 acres of prime land at Kakkanad, which once housed government quarters. “The metro agency is currently doing technical evaluation of the firms, following which the firm which quoted the lowest rate will be entrusted with the task of constructing high-quality, low cost apartments and other amenities,” official sources said.
The apartments will have area ranging from 800 to 1,000 sq.ft and are aimed at catering to the needs of middle class families. But the KMRL has fixed specifications that will ensure quality of construction and materials used. The contract will go to the firm that is able to provide them apartments at the lowest cost, say at around ₹2,000 per square feet. All constructions on the 17-acre premises will have to adhere to the master plan prepared by the metro agency.
There will also be recreational and commercial spaces beside the apartments. A walkway and cycle track has been envisaged in the perimeter. The metro agency has the advantage of having to invest nothing on the land since it was government owned.
The French government had recently offered to provide technical help to the KMRL for metro’s operation and maintenance.
Metro Village
The KMRL has re-tendered its bid to finalise a firm to conduct environmental impact assessment (EIA) of its Metro Village project in around 230 acres of wetland at Muttom near Aluva. This is because firms having a desirable track record did not respond to the tender. The metro agency aims to create space here for commercial, recreational and agricultural development in what is now an ecologically-sensitive wetland.
Land-acquisition process will be set in motion once the EIA is ready and the proposal is found viable. The Metro Village will be a much bigger source of revenue for the KMRL compared to the integrated township at Kakkanad.
