It is indeed a great feeling
that a project which one followed since years is going to be a reality in few
days. All the approvals are in place; now it is matter of inauguration of the
phase 1A of Kochi metro rail by our PM Narendra Modi on 17-Jun-2017.
The interesting fact is that Kochi metro will be
the fastest metro (in India) to be inaugurated when we consider time from
initiation of construction to inauguration (within 4 years).
This is absolutely tremendous when we see
that a state like Kerala with varied challenges like availability of materials
and disruption in work got there in record time. Can you guess the reason
for above two points? Well, it is easy since it is Kerala - Hartal (Strike).
But we still managed to have metro on track in 4 years with great work from the
best contractors & of course with personal touch by DMRC, especially from E.
Sreedharan.
Extra benefits from Kochi metro:
We should not forget the benefits which Kochi
metro gave to us before even it is inaugurated. The works done by metro team
were to build bridges, widening roads and resurfacing many stretches which our
corporation could not have done even in 15 or 20 years. We must congratulate
metro for this. They are as follows:
- Railway over bridge over the Salim rajan road called AL Jacob RoB
- Road widening from Town hall to Madhava pharmacy junction
- Series of roads which were resurfaced
- Edapally flyover (though many say it should have been aligned in better way)
- Pachalam railway over bridge
7 lady loco pilot for Kochi metro
So the first stretch to be opened to public will
be from Aluva to Palarivattom.
We all know that land acquisition and related works
are too slow from Vytilla to Pettah stretch and we would only see full phase
being completed in 3 years (somewhere at the end of 2019).
But the stretch from Palarivattom to MG Road
(5KM) is expected to be over in few months from now by at least August.
There is also a proposal for extension of metro
to Kakkanad and with new metro policy it looks difficult to get funds from
central government. But still let us wait for more clarity as this rule may not
be applicable for the currently approved metro.
We all wait now for 17th June for Modi
to inaugurate Kochi metro from Kaloor stadium.
PM Modi to inaugurate Kochi metro on 17th June 2017 |