Kochi Water Metro Limited (KWML) is awaiting German lending agency KfW’s approval to float tenders for 15 of the 30 electric hybrid ferries that is has envisaged in phase two of the Water Metro project.
The passenger ferries would operate through waterways in the Greater Kochi area, where a total of 38 terminals would be readied, linking locations in the mainland with 10 islands around Kochi. Cochin Shipyard Limited has belatedly handed over 13 of the 23 passenger ferries that KWML had placed orders for, and the rest are expected to be delivered by June. They are operating in the High Court-Vypeen, High Court-Bolghatty and Vyttila-Kakkanad corridors. The average patronage per day in these routes is 5,500.
Thus, terminals that were readied at South Chittoor, Eloor, Cheranalloor and North Mulavukad are awaiting operation of ferries from the High Court terminal. The floating pontoons that enable safe boarding and alighting of ferry passengers, irrespective of low or high tide, have been installed here, official sources said.
The terminals on Willingdon Island and Kumbalam are getting ready.
Pontoons installed
Pontoons have also been installed at the long-overdue Fort Kochi terminal that was expected to be commissioned in 2023. The roof work of a marine platform (which was readied considering the terminal’s proximity to the sea) that would link the terminal and the pontoons, too is over. Following this, a ferry conducted trial run in the High Court-Fort Kochi corridor. The terminal is ready for use, and is awaiting power connection, they added. The KWML had scaled down the extent of the terminal to a third, after heritage enthusiasts and others opposed the construction of a big structure that was envisaged here.
The ferry terminal at adjacent Mattancherry (the work on which was retendered twice) is expected to be ready by September, before the onset of the annual tourist season in October, sources said. A pair of rigs have been deployed for piling work, since a portion of the terminal would be over the backwaters. Its shore protection was done, while a pre- cast yard has been readied nearby.
