Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that the State government plans to utilise the Kochi metro rail project as a lever to transform the entire transport network in the region under a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority integrating all modes of transport.
Mr. Chandy was delivering his inaugural address at the renovated Town Hall here on Saturday, which was streamed live at a function held in connection with the production of rolling stocks for the metro project at the manufacturing facility of Alstom Transport India Limited at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh.
“Since Kochi is the economic and commercial nerve centre of the State, upgrading and transforming the infrastructure of the city will trigger economic gains for the entire State,” he said.
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The Chief Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to complete the first reach of the project early next year. “A key element in the timely completion of the project is the delivery of metro rail coaches. We are pleased to learn that the Kochi metro rail project will be a truly ‘Make in India’ project with majority of the components being manufactured domestically,” he said.
Mr. Chandy said the coaches would be one of the cheapest metro coaches to be built in the country. He urged Alstom Transport authorities to honour the delivery timelines, “thus making it one of the fastest delivered metro rail coaches.”