Kochi Metro Rail Ltd plans to explore more options on water transport as a feeder to the metro rail system.
A Transit Oriented Development Committee will incubate a special purpose vehicle to focus on the development of the city’s waterways, which will be integrated with the metro rail system in Kochi.
This was being done under the aegis of UMTA (Unified Metropolitan Authority) planned to facilitate coordinated planning and implementation of the city’s transportation network, a press release issued here said.
The first meeting of the transit-oriented development committee, constituted by the board of KMRL, was held here and chaired by the Managing Director, KMRL, and Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) Elias George.
As a part of this initiative, it was also decided that the State Water Transport Department will commence trial services along a few urban waterways at Kochi by next month.
“Catalysing transit-oriented development is a key objective of KMRL, in line with the practices followed by modern urban metro systems. The objective is to ensure more balanced urban development away from the city centre as well as the provision of urban facilities close to Metro stations,” he said.
“In terms of transit oriented development, each metro station will act as a node and a catalyst for creating local urban facilities in the vicinity of the station itself,” George added.
It was also decided that a detailed planning exercise would be undertaken to prepare a transit-oriented development plan along the alignment of the Metro line.
This study will be undertaken by NATPAC and UMTC (Urban Mass Transit Company Limited) with the assistance of existing agencies like the Kochi Corporation, GCDA, The Chief Town Planner’s office and other transport related departments.