The plans to restore the Kottayam Town boat station received a major fillip with the authorities all set to launch the first phase of the Kacherikadavu water hub next month.
According to officials, the first phase of the project comprising a park, children’s play area, and a cafeteria will be thrown open in December.
As part of it, a committee chaired by District Collector, with members including director of the State Water Transport department (SWTD), Tourism Department deputy director and District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) secretary has been constituted to monitor the activities.
A recent meeting of the committee entrusted DTPC secretary to complete the procedures like leasing out the shops, fixing an entrance fee and others. Accordingly, an entrance fee of ₹10 has been fixed while the only work that remains to be done is to secure a connection of the Kerala Water Authority.
Upon opening the facility, the DTPC plans to operate Shikara boat services from the jetty and has received administrative sanction for the same.
In the second phase, the SWTD is slated to extend the passenger boat services from Kodimatha to Kacherikkadavu jetty here. Earlier, directors of both the Tourism Department and SWTD had signed a formal agreement to commence boat services from here.
“The soon-to-be-launched air conditioned boat will also be extended to Kacherikadavu once the canal connecting the jetty with Puthenthod is ready for operations,” said an official.
Revival package
A revival package for the Kacherikadavu boat jetty was proposed by Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishanan, MLA, during his tenure in the previous UDF ministry.
The plan was to convert Kacherikkadavu Boat Jetty to Water Hub at a cost of ₹8 crore.
The government owns nearly 50 cents of land including the 36 cents of SWTD where the project is being implemented.
