KOCHI: It has almost been a year since the feasibility study of the Vyttila-Ponnurunni Railway Terminal project was conducted. Two months have passed since the Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail) conducted a meeting with the representatives of the Metro Kochi Vikasana Samithi, who mooted the project. Unfortunately, there has been no progress to the project, concerning the stakeholders. The samithi is alleging there are changes in the plan that were not notified which could impact the efficiency of the project. Samithi president M K Saseendran said they are unsure if the draft even reached the Railway Board.
“Though around 18 platforms can be constructed on the 110 acres, the renewed plan only has nine platforms. The initial draft also had service apartments, business centres, hospitals, luxury hotels and convention centres under Kochi Central Station as suggested by Hibi Eden MP during his meeting with the Railway Board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav,” he said.
The samithi suggested the project 12 years ago when they took out a protest march in front of the Parliament and submitted a memorandum to then minister Mamata Banerjee. Later, P T Thomas MLA presented the issue inthe assembly. The earlier objection to a Public-Private Partnership model was centred around the lack of clarity while transferring such a huge project to a private agency.
Three entrances to the terminal — towards Karanakodam on the north side, Aysha road to the east and the third connecting to Vyttila hub through a flyover — were mooted in the initial plan. However, at the October 20 meeting, K-Rail authorities stated JLN and Elamkulam metro stations and Aysha road will be the entrance points. The samithi is also worried that the move to reduce number of platforms to nine will also derail the plans to make an environment-friendly, multi-modal transport hub. Samithi secretary T N Prathapan said that will also lead to a portion of the already acquired land being left unused.
“The good stations can be shifted to Mattancherry harbour as there are 72 acres of land left in Wellington island. Eight tracks have been left unused since they are not equipped with an electricity line. The first draft had plans to effectively utilise the resources available. The 118 railway quarters were to be shifted to the Eastern side. Now, these quarters are on the south railway station premises,” he said. The samithi alleged that while the project is being delayed indefinitely in Kochi, similar initiatives are progressing smoothly in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.