Waiting for metro rail work to begin
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The project will help to recharge the Kochi property outlook.
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Better days ahead: The metro rail will ease traffic congestion that plagues Kochi now.
As the prospects for metro rail in Kochi have brightened with the Planning Commission giving the green signal, people of the city want the work on the project to begin soon without further delay so that they can escape the traffic congestion being experienced now.
Their apprehensions on these issues are not unfounded, as many infrastructure projects have been in limbo in the city.
“We have already lost four years talking creatively about the metro project,” says S. Balakrishnan, president of the Residents Apex Council, Ernakulam. The cost of the project has doubled during the period, he adds. While the Delhi Metro Corporation has earned a good reputation for getting work done in record time, work in Kerala will be a different game altogether, believe some of the major builders.
Most builders have welcomed the green signal for the metro rail as the project is expected to provide a good momentum to the overall development of infrastructure. This, in turn, will provide a necessary recharge to the property outlook in the city, they say.
All the same, the work will pose difficulties to people if the government, in association with local bodies, does not develop some of the connecting roads to the arterial roads of Kochi to help ease the traffic flow.
Mr. Balakrishnan says that if Market Road, parallel to Mahatma Gandhi Road on the western side, can be developed to make the traffic flow on one side from south to north similar to the one-way traffic on Chittoor Road, there will be some easing of traffic on the main road.
While Sahodaran Ayyappan Road requires repair, parallel roads on either side need to be developed. Similarly, other roads to Thripunithura, entry from the Maradu side and the Vyttila-Kaniyampuzha roads need to be strengthened to lessen the traffic on the main road.
If the work on Pulleppady overbridge gets done, one of the major roads connecting the city to the highway will become open, lessening the traffic on the metro route that will ring the city from north to south.
The construction of metro rail will be a challenge as the size of the existing roads, already congested, will be further reduced. Hence, it is important that the government does the spadework to prepare for a bigger project such as the metro.
“We have even voiced the demand for a full-fledged suburban rail from Shoranur to Kottayam and back via Alappuzha, making a circle. This will be of help to a large number of people,” Mr. Balakrishnan says. According to him, the metro rail cannot be substituted by flyovers or elevated roads as these will not be the answer to the transport needs of people. Providing transport to a large section of people would be possible only by projects as the metro rail.
SHYAMA RAJAGOPAL
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