Commuters from West Kochi have decried the seven-year-old delay in restoring ferry services to Mattancherry Boat Jetty, which is said to be one of the oldest ferry terminals in Kerala.
Stakeholders, including office-bearers of West Kochi Passengers’ Association, attributed the delay to the contractor deployed by the Irrigation department not completing dredging of the channel that led to the jetty. “Ferries operated by the Kerala State Water Transport department (KSWTD) called at the jetty up to 2018, when the deluge resulted in accumulation of silt in the channel,” said M.M. Abbas, president of the association.
The Mattancherry Water Metro Action Council has been on the warpath, seeking speedy completion of the Water Metro jetty in Mattancherry and also dredging of the channel. This is because residents, traders and tourists had to alight from ferries at Customs Jetty and travel all the way to their destinations in Mattancherry during the past seven years, causing substantial inconvenience. The council was also peeved at the shortfall in the number of tourists visiting Mattancherry due to non-availability of the ferry service.
“Officials in the Irrigation department had fixed February as the revised deadline to complete the dredging process. With this not happening, ferries that we had earmarked to operate services from Ernakulam to Mattancherry are under-utilised,” said sources in KSWTD.
A senior official of the Irrigation department said that the contractor who was awarded a ₹4.50-crore contract to dredge the Fort Kochi-Mattancherry channel had failed to complete the work despite reminders. “Following this, he has been issued with a notice to complete the dredging, failing which the work might be re-tendered. The contractor is citing funds crunch as a reason for the inability to dredge the channel and to deposit the silt in the outer sea.”
“He has to complete all the three reaches in the channel simultaneously for ferries to resume trips to the jetty. With the dredging remaining incomplete, the renovated jetty building has been remaining unutilised,” he added.
The Irrigation department has, in the meantime, completed renovation of the Fort Kochi ferry jetty, barring that of the pathway leading to the entry gate. In addition, it has been decided to construct a lower roof here to avoid axing of a couple of huge trees. “It has also been decided to ready a floating jetty at Kamalakadavu so that SWTD vessels that now operate up to Customs Jetty in Fort Kochi can operate closer to the heritage town,” sources said.
