KOCHI: Kochi Municipal Corporation has submitted 30 mega projects to avail financial assistance under the Urban Challenge Fund (UCF) rolled out by the Central government, eyeing the development of the city for the next 25 years.
Presenting the project concepts in the council on Tuesday, Mayor V K Minimol said that a detailed project report would be drafted once the necessary sanctions are obtained.
“Under the Urban Challenge Fund scheme, the Central government provides 25% of the project cost while the local body has to source the remaining 75% either from state government or through municipal bonds, loans or public private participation models. Most of the envisaged projects will be set up on corporation’s own land, and the only expense will be on implementing the projects,” the mayor said.
The mayor said that the projects were designed as income-generative ones so as to meet the needs of the expanding city and its future requirements.
UCF also limits projects to certain categories like health, mobility, sanitation, last-mile connectivity and water supply. Among the projects presented in the council, importance
will be given to the Kaloor Integrated Mobility hub connecting the metro station and the private bus stand. Developing the place in a time-bound manner with all modern facilities will be a key highlight of the plan.
“We plan to shift the slaughterhouse at Kaloor to the land owned by the corporation in Cheranalloor. It will hep free up about 50 cents of land in the bus stand which can be used for setting up the integrated mobility hub,” the mayor said.
Other major projects planned by the civic body include the Vyttila Civil Square to be set up at a cost of `60 crore, Thevara Market Redevelopment spending `30 crore, Ormayil P T Udyanam and P T Thomas Memorial Park Redevelopment Project which will cost `20 crore.
The corporation is also planning to set up an electric Ro-Ro service linking Vypin and Fort Kochi in addition to the existing services.
“The formation of a special purpose vehicle for coordinating existing Ro-Ro services is under way. The SPV will also look into possibilities of rolling out the electric Ro-Ro service,” the mayor said.
In the absence of model roads, the corporation plans to address the issue by upgrading Panampilly Nagar Road, Goshree BTH Road, 40 feet Road and Manapattiparambu Road using modern technologies.