KOCHI: Piling work has begun for Kochi Metro Rail Ltd’s phase II project, connecting the city to its IT hub at Infopark. Work on the first station on the stretch, near the Cochin Special Economic Zone (CSEZ), was initiated on Saturday.
“As planned, piling work began last week. The first station on the stretch will come up near CSEZ. The project is progressing with Systra and Systra MVA Consulting India Pvt Ltd appointed as general consultants. Egis India has been signed on as the detailed design consultant. Soon, tenders will be floated inviting bids for the construction of viaducts,” said a KMRL official.
The second phase comprises an 11.2 km-long elevated line from Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium station to Infopark, via Kakkanad, with 11 stations. The Centre has approved `1,957 crore for the project. Land acquisition between JLN Stadium and Palarivattom is expected to be completed by September. “Nearly 90% of land acquisition on the Palarivattom-JLN stretch has been completed. The remaining is expected to be done by September,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the suggestion to extend the line to Edachira is under consideration. “KMRL and Thrikkakara municipality discussed extending phase 2 to Edachira. However, nothing has been finalised,” the official added.
KMA building to be felled
As part of phase 11 expansion, Kerala Media Academy, also known as Kerala Press Academy, will have to give up 80 cents from its total three acres of land for the project.
“We had a meeting with the stakeholders and agreed to give up around 80 cents for the project. We were informed that the entire academy building, including the hostel, will be demolished for the project. A proposal to build a new building has been submitted to the government,” said academy chairman R S Babu.
The academy’s governing body submitted a proposal to construct a new building on the same campus at a cost of Rs 26 crore.
“Oommen Chandy’s government had allocated Rs 4 crore for the construction of the main institute. However, when Thomas Isaac took charge as finance minister, the allocation was withdrawn considering the financial crisis the government found itself in. The government then promised to reassign the amount when construction work of the institute begins,” Babu added.