Updated Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Greater Kochi to be ready in three months
Industries Minister P. Rajeeve with MLAs K. Babu, T.J. Vinod, and Anwar Sadath, and KMRL Managing Director Loknath Behera at the stakeholder consultation meeting for the unveiling the draft mobility master plan for Kochi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: R.K. Nithin
The updated Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for the Greater Kochi area would be readied in three months, Minister for Industries and Law P. Rajeeve said here on Tuesday.
Addressing the media after the stakeholder consultation meeting held at the Ernakulam Town Hall to ready an updated CMP, he said suggestions by people’s representatives, residents associations’ representatives, and other stakeholders would be included in the CMP by Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), in tandem with the Urban Mass Transport Company (UMTC), the consultant.
The State government had entrusted the metro agency with the task of preparing the CMP for areas coming under the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA). The CMP is a visionary document to present a strategy for short-, medium- and long-term developments to improve accessibility and mobility for residents in the region. Such a document is also needed to take up further extensions of the Kochi metro.
The CMP, which was readied in 2017, is being updated by UMTC, based on the Centre’s guidelines to revise it every five years. “The agency readied its draft after micro and macro analysis of mobility-related issues in keeping with the increase in number of vehicles and population, and their expected increase over the next 30 years. The vast floating population of Kochi too was taken into account. While matters like air pollution were within the satisfactory index, it was found that there were glaring inadequacies with regard to parking and pedestrian spaces,” Mr Rajeeve said.
The CMP will ensure development and integration of road, railway, ferry and metro rail systems, considering the needs of the ever-expanding Greater Kochi area which includes the Kochi Corporation, nine municipalities, and 19 panchayats, where road capacity is limited. KMRL will hold local-level meetings prior to finalising the draft. The travel concerns of people from West Kochi too will be addressed. Stakeholders also demanded the extension of the Kochi metro from Aluva to Angamaly/Kochi airport and to the proposed Global City. The draft CMP is available on the KMRL website.
On whether KMRL is keen to have a metro viaduct running over the elevated highway that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has proposed in the Aroor-Edappally bypass corridor, Loknath Behera, Managing Director of the metro agency, said the passengers per hour per direction of traffic on the stretch was a little below 10,000 now. Thus, a Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) is ideal for the stretch.
Mayor M. Anilkumar, District Collector N.S.K. Umesh, and MLAs were present at the meet.
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