THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Metropolitan Transport Authority Bill 2018 was presented in the Assembly by Transport Minister A K Saseendran on Tuesday.
The legislature has referred the Bill to the Select Committee. The National Urban Transport Policy proposes to eliminate lack of coordination between different departments under the urban transport and to make the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority the umbrella body coordinating various institutions in handling transport within the urban mobility region.
Transport Minister said when the bill comes into force, it would be possible to resolve various transport issues through joint action and coordination of all departments.
The purpose of the bill is to form a Metropolitan Transport Authorities (MTA) and to reckon the urban areas as urban mobility areas. It also aims to plan, supervise, coordinate, develop and control the urban transport and other services related to it.
The areas within the municipal corporation of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode cities with high population and vehicle density will be declared Urban Mobility areas as soon as the Act comes into force. The MTA will be an independent institution consisting of 15 members, including a chairperson.
The bill will provide integration of various transport modes, a location for new parking lots, implement the single ticketing system so people can use the same ticket for various modes of travel through the Intelligent Transport System and will help to improve the urban transport system.
When the Centre gave a green signal to the Kochi Metro rail project and signed a tripartite memorandum between the Government of India, Kochi Metro and the Government of Kerala, these conditions were also included. There was a requirement by the Foreign Financial Agencies to set up unified transportation routes.
In Central Government’s Metro Rail Policy-2017, it was mandated to form the Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority in all those cities where the Metro projects will be implemented.
After collecting information related to the bill, the revised bill will be submitted by the Legislature Select Committee. The decision to pass the revised bill will be taken in the next session.