The Kochi metro’s long-pending 1.5-km extension from Pettah to S.N. Junction has received a boost, with Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) saying that the land acquisition process to widen the corridor and to build two stations en route will be completed by May 31.
A total of 2.75 acres have to be acquired for preparatory work (mainly to widen the road to four-lane), while two acres are needed for constructing stations at Vadakkekotta and S.N. Junction. The total extent of land needed is located in 182 land parcels, said a KMRL press release.
The tender process to select the civil contractor for the metro viaduct is in the final stages. Online tender will be opened on May 27. The contracting firm is expected to begin ground-level work (piling) on the stretch from June, said KMRL managing director A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish.
The agency will have to construct the metro viaduct from Petta to S.N. Junction, two elevated stations, and a two-lane bridge across Panamkutty river at Pettah. The existing bridge will be retained.
KMRL to execute
KMRL will directly execute the metro’s 1.5-km extension and later extend it further up to the Thripunithura railway station located a kilometre away from S.N. Junction (as part of the metro’s phase 1) and the upcoming phase 2 (the 11-km-long Kakkanad extension). “The district administration and KMRL officials are working in tandem to complete land acquisition, so that the preparatory work for the metro’s extension up to S.N. Junction can be completed in 10 months. All work, including the bridge, viaduct, and stations, can be completed by May 2021,” Mr. Hanish told The Hindu .
The metro agency has already appointed L&T Infrastructure Engineering Limited as the detailed design consultant for S.N. Junction and railway station extensions. The contract was awarded for ₹3.06 crore in June 2018, and the design is in the final stages. Following this, EQMS India Pvt. Ltd. was tasked with the preparation of the Environmental Mitigation/Monitoring Plan in April 2019.
The contract for widening the road along the proposed metro corridor to four-lane was awarded to Seguro Foundations & Structures Ltd. in December, and work has begun.
The State government had accorded administrative sanction of ₹123 crore for the preparatory work for the extension.
