Kochi Water Metro project: First Route Inaugurated

The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, has inaugurated the first route and terminal buildings of Kochi Water Metro.

Key facts

• This project connects the islands across the city with the help of state-of-the-art boats.
• The metro route ranges from Vyttila to Kakkanad.
• Vyttila is one of the busiest traffic hubs in Kerala while, Kakkanad is the IT hub.
• Commercial operations of the metro will start in March 2021 after it gets the statutory clearance certificate.
• The first phase of the Kochi Water Metro project is 520 km long.
• Apart from the metro, the Chief Minister also opened the Panamkutty Bridge. It is also known as Petta Bridge which was launched for traffic. It will enable a traffic free journey in between the Petta Junction and SN junction. The bridge is 250 metre in length. Out of this, 70 metre is over the Poorna river.
• He also launched the Integrated Urban Regeneration and Water Transport System (IURWT) project. IURWT project will renew and rejuvenate the six major canals of 34 km in Kochi.

IURWT Project

It is an Integrated Urban Regeneration and water transport system project. It has been proposed for the development of the Edappally Canal (11.23 km), Chilavanoor Canal (9.88 km), Thevara – Perandoor Canal (11.15 km), Market Canal (0.664 km) and Thevara Canal (1.405 km) in Kochi. All these canals are highly silted and polluted because of domestic & commercial waste, construction waste etc. Under the IURWT project activities such as, Cleaning of Canals, Bank Protection, Dredging & Cutting, Sanitary Sewer Line & STP, Jetties and Reconstruction of Cross Structures and Foot Over Bridges will be carried away. The total cost of the project is Rs.1418 crores. It has been launched for the period of 10 years. The project related construction will be completed in 3 years.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2021