The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Concerns on Metro will be addressed: Chief Minister

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Concerns on Metro will be addressed: Chief Minister

Staff Reporter

Meet stresses transport system for Kochi

Merchants in favour of underground system
Plea to complete flyover, bridge projects

KOCHI: Some concerns expressed by a section of merchants and people’s representatives on the Kochi Metro-rail project will be taken up with the project’s implementing agency, the Delhi Metro-Rail Corporation, Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan said here on Saturday.

Speaking after attending a meeting to take stock of the project, he said a final decision will be taken after one more round of talks with representatives of the DMRC.

The president of the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry E. S. Jose said the organisation was not against the project.

“The DMRC can very well build an underground system for the project, which we are willing to support,” he said.

Architect of the Kochi Marine Drive, Kuldip Singh, said that the proposed elevated light Metro-rail for Kochi has to be linked with the city’s masterplan.

Kochi needs to probe other alternatives to the Metro-rail system, he said.

The district secretary of the NCP, C.M. Devassy said that Kochi urgently needed a system of mass rapid transport like the Metro-rail.

“The demand to extend the proposed rails to other areas is itself proof that people want the project,” he said.

The chairman of the Goshree Action Council, Majnu Komath, said that with IT projects lined up on Kochi’s eastern side and projects like the container terminal coming up on the western coast, the city urgently needed a good system of mass rapid transport.

The others who were present include MLAs K V Thomas, K Babu and A M Yusuf; Chief Secretary T J Thomas; District Collector M Beena and Mayor Mercy Williams.

Meanwhile, a group of prominent people, including former Judge of the Kerala High Court, K. Narayana Kurup, and former District Collector of Ernakulam, K R Rajan, demanded that the construction of pillars required to support the elevated rails will throw traffic into disarray in Kochi.

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