Fort Kochi is set to get its share of smart roads like Kochi city – with ducts, cycle lanes and bollards to demarcate footpaths and drains, as the CSML is awarding works or is in the process of finalising the tenders for the works.
The agency is also drawing up plans to develop and beautify Kamalakadavu, the busy inter-modal transport hub in the region where bus passengers and those of Vypeen-Fort Kochi RoRo ferry services converge.
The smart road works in Fort Kochi would have been completed by now but for the services of a contracting firm which had been entrusted with executing the works in and around the heritage zone in Fort Kochi being terminated. Thus, the work to develop KB Jacob Road and River Road as smart roads has been tendered, while tenders for similar upgradation work of Amaravathy-Calvathy Road is in its final stage. The contracting firm would be fixed in a week, official sources said.
The footpaths will be at least 1.50 metres wide and will have bollards to act as a check on illegal parking. A cycle lane will be readied on the space between the footpath and the carriageway. All road and footpath upgradation works in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, barring smart roads, are scheduled for completion by March end. The CSML had received considerable flak for the extremely slow progress of its smart road and other road infra upgrade works in the city and West Kochi, despite having adequate funds at its disposal. All the road, drain, duct and footpath upgrading works are being done as per norms of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways [MoRTH]. Under the defect-liability clause, the contracting firm concerned would be held liable for any damage that occurs for the first three years, sources said.
Cycle lane
Meanwhile, critics say little is being done to demarcate cycle lanes, especially in the city where streets such as Abraham Madamakkal Road are wide enough. “The cycle lane initiative in the city (on the Rajendra Maidan-first Goshree Bridge corridor) has turned out to be a mere eyewash, since vehicles are often times parked on the area demarcated using green paint,” said Biley Menon, the national vice president of the Institute of Urban Designers-India and the co-convenor of the Kochi Chapter of INTACH.
“A similar initiative in Fort Kochi, although desirable, may not yield the desired results since most roads there are very narrow. The footpath constructed by CSML on heritage lanes such as Peter Celli Street are well above the road level and this is posing hurdles to the movement of vehicles in either direction. Similar is the case with many such byroads in the city hub. The footpath ought to have been at the same level as that of the road, with a small demarcation. Bollards too could be provided, wherever needed. All this shows that little planning went into the works,” he said.
