Kochi Metrorail project in 100-day scheme

image © The Hindu
A bouquet of achievements awaits Kerala with the long awaited Kochi Metro Rail Project close to being realised and Kozhikode set to be included in the expanded Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) project.

The Planning Commission, after long and hefty persuasion by the Ministry of Urban Development, has given the green signal to the Metro Rail Project on the lines proposed by the State - a joint venture of the State Government and the Centre.

Kozhikode will figure in the expanded JNNURM project wherein the Ministry has decided to include 28 cities with five lakh population.

The Metro Rail Project, which could change the face of Kochi, has been put on the fast track with its inclusion in the 100-day programme of the Ministry of Urban Development. This was announced by Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy while divulging his Ministry’s action plan in the coming 100 days.

The Kochi metro rail project is an undertaking of the state government of Kerala. The metro rail project at Kochi is meant to facilitate transportation in the industrial city of Kochi. Currently, the means of transport in the city of Kochi are limited to auto rickshaws, buses, taxis and ferries. With the execution of the metro rail project in Kochi, traveling from one place to another in the city will not pose any more problems.

The government of Kerala has sought the active participation of the private sector companies to carry out this massive project of transportation with success. The metro rail project of Kochi is planned on BOT basis.

A couple of people who hold important posts in the government of Kerala have been selected to look after the overall work related to the project. Sheela Thomas, the secretary of the Kerala government, has been designated the special officer in relation of this project.

The project is planned to set up a metro rail connection as long as 25.253 kms. The proposed starting point of this metro rail connection is the place called Alwaye and the proposed ending point is the place called Pettah.

The Kochi metro rail project has a lot of significance, because of the economic significance of Kochi. The city of Kochi earns a lot of revenues for the entire state of Kerala, through its variety of industries. Therefore, to cater to the industrial needs of the city, the infrastructure of transport communication has become one of the most important concerns of the government. The metro rail project of Kochi is a part of the initiative of the Kerala government to better the infrastructure of the city.

Source

The traffic woes of Kochiites will finally be solved as the Kochi Metro Rail Project is getting ready to take off with the Planning Commission giving nod to the project.

The implementation of the project is expected to ease the road traffic in the city limits and reduce the burden on the traffic police in maintaining free flow of traffic during peak hours. Traffic Assistant Commissioner K B Venugopal said that the traffic on the roads would fall gradually once the Metro Rail Project, from Tripunithura to Aluva, was completed.

"More people will be using the Metro Rail and it will ease the pressure on other public transport systems. Even people with their own vehicles would use Metro Rail, thereby reducing the number of vehicles on roads," he said.

Venugopal said that the project would reduce the number of vehicles entering the city as more people from outer regions of the city would use the Metro Rail. " We expect the traffic to reduce drastically after the project is completed," he said and added that the Department had foreseen certain traffic problems during the implementation of the project. Via