KOCHI: The proposal submitted by the Kerala government for phase II of the Kochi Metro from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to Kakkanad via Infopark is under the active consideration of the Union government and approval for it will be given soon, Union Minister for civil aviation and housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri indicated on Monday.
The Union Minister said this while delivering the presidential address during the inaugural function of the Thykkoodam-Petta stretch of Kochi Metro via video conferencing. He hinted that the green signal for the 11.2 km stretch of Phase II will be given at the earliest.
With the commissioning of the 1.2 km stretch, Kochi Metro also marked the completion of its first phase between Aluva and Petta. There are 22 stations in the first phase. “With the services now extended to 25 km, we are expecting an increase in daily ridership of the Kochi Metro. The existing ridership of 65,000 daily passengers is likely to cross one lakh per day with the extension of services up to Petta,” said Puri.
Inaugurating the final stretch of Kochi Metro's first phase, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the focus of the government will now be on the completion of the 3.2 km Metro stretch from Petta to Tripunithura, comprising three stations. Work on the Rs 1066 crore extension as Phase I (a) of Kochi Metro has already been launched. The initial section up to SN Junction is likely to be commissioned in October next year.
“The Union Minister has hinted that the nod for the second phase will be given soon, which is happy news for us. The preparatory works along the Kakkanad stretch have already been launched,” he added.
The Chief Minister later flagged off the first journey of the Kochi Metro train from Petta to Thykoodam via video conference from Thiruvananthapuram. MLAs M Swaraj, P T Thomas, Hiby Eden, Ernakulam MP, Kochi Corporation mayor Soumini Jain and other senior officers took the first journey.