KOCHI: The Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) which has submitted a draft report on transforming Kochi to a metropolis is awaiting the response from the state government.
It was around two years ago that the the GCDA initiated steps to prepare a report to convert Kochi into the sixth metropolitan city in the country.
The idea of making the city a metropolitan city and the formation of a metropolitan authority and metropolitan council for greater Kochi area was put forth in the ‘100-days Programme’ of the UDF government.
The Urban Ministry had given its green signal and said that Kochi has the eligibility to become a metropolitan city.
“We were asked to prepare a report, which we completed within three months, and it was later submitted to the Chief Town Planner’s (CTP) office,” said GCDA chairman N Venugopal.In its report, the GCDA has included a total land area covering 4,600 sq km under the Kochi metropolis, which include the entire Ernakulam district, Chalakkudi, Kodungalloor and Vaikkom.
The total population in the area was assessed at 45 lakhs.
“However, in CTP’s modifications, they removed Kothamangalam, Perumbavoor, Vaikkam and Thodupuzha from the preview of the project as these areas come under agriculture belt. Instead of these areas they added Cherthala into the list, and the total area was restructured to 3,400 sq km. The total population as per the revamped list was 36 lakhs. We learnt that the CTP office had already submitted the report to the government,” he added.