BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOCHI (KERALA), 24 APRIL 2023:
Come tomorrow and Kochi is all set to get the first Water Metro Project of not only in the country but also in South Asia as PM Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation Kochi Water Metro Project, which will not only decongest the city’s buiest roads bit will also connect over one lakhs islanders living in the ten odd islands on the Vembanad Lake.
Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan has called it as a dream project of Kerala and said that it will boost the transport and tourism sector of the state further.
“The world-class #KochiWaterMetro is setting sail! It is Kerala’s dream project connecting 10 islands in and around Kochi. KWM with 78 electric boats & 38 terminals cost 1,136.83 crores, funded by GoK & KfW. Exciting times are ahead for our transport and tourism sectors!,” tweeted Pinarayi Vijayan.
While an ecstatic PM Minister Narendra Modi shared the beatififul pictures of the Kochi Water Metro in his twitter account today.
It will have a fleet of 78 fast, electrically propelled hybrid ferries plying between 38 jetties. The floating pontoons will help the elderly people to travel safely.The service intends to operate on 15 identified routes connecting 10 islands on the Vembanad Lake, covering 78 km. The water metro system is expected to become fully operational by 2035 with a daily commuter-count of 1.5 lakh passengers. It also serves as a feeder service to suburbs along the rivers where transport accesibility is limited.
All boats will be air conditioned with wide glass windows which will help the passengers to enjoy the famous backwaters while travelling.
With this unique urban mass transit system commuters will be able to reach Vypin Terminal from High Court in 20 minutes, and from Vyttila to Kakkanad by 25 minutes.
Passengers can ytravel by bothy Kochi Metro and and Water Metro using the “ Kochi 1” card and tickets can be booked online also.
Rs.1136 crores Kochi Water Metro Project have been funded by the Kerala government and German funding agency KfW.
Manufactured by Cochin Shipyard Limited initially eight numbers of electric hybrid boats will operate. Each eco friendly boat costs Rs.7 crores and will carry 100 passengers with a seating capacity of 50 passengers. These electric boats will have Lithium Titanite Spinel Batteries.
A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been set up, Cochin Water Metro Limited (CWML) to run this project. Once the project is fully operational it will cover 78 kilometres of Kochi backwaters, th municipalities and six gram panchayats.
ABOUT WATERWAYS KOCHI SCENARIO:
The Kerala backwaters are a network of brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian seacost ( known as the Malabar Coast) of Kerala state in Southern India, as well as interconnected canals, rivers, and inlets, labyrinthine system formed by more than 900 kilometres of waterways. Kochi is the largest in the South Indian state of Kerala and the second largest India’s western coastline, after Mumbai. In Kochi’s case, thanks to its location on the lower west coast of the Indian peninsula, it is less vulnerable to storms surges or cyclones compared to cities on the eastern cost of the country. The city sits within a complex estuarine system comprising Lake Vembanad and the many rivers flowing into the lake, including the Periyar and Muvattupuzha rivers.
Kochi is abundantly blessesd with waterways with over 1100 kilometres of waterways avaialable. However, only 40 kilometres out of these are considered naviagable for motor baots since, according to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) regulations a minimum depth of two metres is manadatory for their operations.
The world-class #KochiWaterMetro is setting sail! It is Kerala's dream project connecting 10 islands in and around Kochi. KWM with 78 electric boats & 38 terminals cost 1,136.83 crores, funded by GoK & KfW. Exciting times are ahead for our transport and tourism sectors! pic.twitter.com/IrSD8hqh9l
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) April 22, 2023
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