Initial hiccups not withstanding,
Kochi Metro would be commissioned as scheduled by June 2016, Chief Minister
Oommen Chandy said on Saturday.Talking to reporters after visiting the Metro’s
work sites in the city and a casting yard at HMT, Kalamassery, he said the
focus was on time-bound completion of the project. Back in June at the launch
of the Metro’s works, Mr. Chandy had given an assurance that Metro trains would
ply on the 25-km-long Aluva-Pettah corridor within three years. The Delhi Metro
Rail Corporation (DMRC) has set December 2015 as the deadline to conduct trial
run of trains on the Aluva-Palarivattom stretch.
All pending issues (such as the
Kerala Water Authority (KWA) delay in relocating pipelines from the Metro’s SA
Road alignment and the Public Works Department (PWD) delay in widening
Vytilla-Pettah Road) will be sorted out at the upcoming review meeting here on
Thursday, Mr. Chandy said. “The government is fully satisfied with Metro works
that are under way.”
Extension
He said the government had an
open mind on Metro extensions proposed to Tripunithura, Kakkanad, international
airport and west Kochi. “The present priority was to commission the Metro’s
phase one (which, according to metro stakeholders, would include the
Tripunithura extension),” he said.Asked whether the retendering of the
Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode monorail projects would in any way delay their
commissioning, Mr. Chandy said everything would be done to meet the deadline.
In the wake of only one firm responding to a global tender, it was decided a
few days ago to float once again tenders for the two projects to select the
exclusive developer-contractor.Referring to the pace of Kochi Metro’s ongoing
civil works, DMRC Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan said rain delayed
piling-related works, including those on M.G. Road, by 45 days. This delay
would be made up once the works attained pace after the rains subsided. On the
KWA’s delay in relocating pipelines from S.A. Road and the Revenue Department’s
delay in acquiring land to widen the Vytilla-Pettah Road, Mr. Sreedharan said
the Metro contractor of the Ernakulam South-Pettah reach had been asked to
commence civil works in areas where such problems did not exist. (It had been
reported that Era Constructions would commence piling in a 700-metre reach east
of Vytilla Mobility Hub, which runs parallel to Kaniampuzha River). He added
that tenders would be invited soon for laying tracks over the Metro viaduct.
On the two bridges and a flyover
proposed at Edapally, Mr. Sreedharan said the DMRC would begin piling in a
week’s time. Some more land had to be acquired on the flyover’s Palarivattom
side.Earlier, the Chief Minister lauded District Collector Sheikh Pareeth and
KMRL’s managing director Elias George for their role in speeding up land
acquisition for the metro. About widening the South overbridge, he said this
was not as urgent as widening of North overbridge. But the proposal was under
the government’s consideration. Activists of the DYFI and the CPI(M) waved
black flags at the Chief Minister at three places. The police dispersed the
activists at Edappally, Kalamassery, and Kakkanad.
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