The State Budget has offered a mixed bag for the infrastructural and future development of Kochi.
Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal highlighted the major plans while leaving out road development and city infrastructure expansion initiatives from ambit of the budget, claiming that such initiatives had been brought under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
Some of the key plans proposed for Kochi are the scheme of ₹200 crore as viability gap funding/grant/equity support to set up a Green Hydrogen Hub over the next two years and the preparation of a master plan by an international consultant. The proposed exhibition centre for MSMEs at Kakkanad has received an allocation of ₹5 crore.
An assistance of ₹14.5 crore has been provided for the second phase of the construction of the much-delayed Cochin Cancer Centre. However, there is no allocation for Water Metro and the Kakkanad extension of the Kochi metro.
Opposition parties termed the Budget a disappointment as it lacked the vision to implement infrastructure and development plans for Kochi. T.J. Vinod, MLA, said the Finance Minister had ignored key proposals including the modernisation of the KSRTC bus station, desilting of streams leading to the Thevara-Perandoor canal, and the elevated road parallel to Pandit Karuppan Road. “To avoid criticism, Mr. Balagopal has included certain road development projects by making a token provision,” he said.
P.K. Krishnadas, member of the national executive of the BJP, accused the Finance Minister of repeating projects initiated by the Centre and old proposals in the State Budget. The Kochi-Bengaluru industrial corridor project is one such example. He has even appropriated the green hydrogen project mentioned by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget, he said.
