KOCHI: After a wait of nearly six years, the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) is finally set to resume boat services to Mattancherry. A New Year gift perhaps, which will enable local residents and scores of tourists to reach the popular tourist destination in 20 minutes from mainland Kochi, instead of the over-an-hour-long travel by road.
An experimental exercise – the deployment of a silt pusher machine – to clear the backwater navigation channel of accumulated silt has paved the way for the resumption of services.
The machine was recently acquired by the Cochin Smart Mission Ltd (CSML) for the Kochi corporation. SWTD was forced to approach CSML to find a way out after the irrigation department failed to carry out dredging despite being allocated crores for the purpose.
Operations on the Ernakulam-Mattancherry route were stopped following the formation of large silt deposits in the backwater channel post the 2018 flood. A sum of Rs 4.5 crore was then allotted to the irrigation department to dredge the channel and restore the services. However, the department couldn’t carry out the exercise due to many hurdles.
“The newly-acquired silt pusher machine, originally meant for cleaning drains and canals in the city, was deployed in the channel last week. We succeeded in making a one-and-a-half metre draft, which is just enough for a catamaran boat to operate.
We’ve fixed coconut poles on the backwater stretch to mark the channel and took a rescue boat to Mattancherry successfully. Trial runs will be conducted in the coming days and we aim to resume the ferry services by New Year,” said SWTD director Shaji V Nair, who is also the CEO of CSML.
With work progressing fast, SWTD has also deployed a small dredger to remove the silt, he said.
“A trial run was successfully held today. We’ll wait for a few more days to see whether the channel gets covered by silt again,” he said.
The irrigation department has completed the renovation of the Mattancherry boat terminal.
“We’re even acquiring a new boat, FC-6, which will be delivered soon, taking the fleet strength in the Ernakulam region alone to nine. We’ll have sufficient boats, and even spare ones, to operate services to Mattancherry as well,” the SWTD official said.
Commuters in the segment are eagerly waiting for the boat services to resume. “The authorities have failed to honour the many promises made. While we welcome the new development, action should be taken against the non-implementation of the dredging project for the past several years,” said M M Abbas, president of the West Kochi Passengers’ Association.