Speed up Kochi Metro’s extension plans, Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose to KMRL

KOCHI: The Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) should now move on with its extensions and speed up proceedings to launch a bigger network, Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose said here on Monday, after a visit to the KMRL office.

Jose, the founder managing director of KMRL, had a detailed discussion with KMRL MD A P M Mohammed Hanish. The latter gave the chief secretary an update about the Kochi Metro, Water Metro, Cochin Smart Mission Ltd projects and various other initiatives of the KMRL.

Jose assured his support in taking the project forward and promised to intervene in the issues which require urgent attention. "The metro is as good as the network it commands. Therefore, it is necessary to complete phase 1 urgently and also make strategic preparations for the Infopark-Kakkanad and Aluva-Angamaly sectors," he said. K R Jyothilal, principal secretary, requested the urgent attention of the chief secretary to implement a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority so that Kochi can be the first city to have traffic integration.

KMRL officers made presentations on the status of project execution, future extension plans and plans for the financial viability of the project. Key issues requiring the urgent intervention of the government were also presented. The meeting was also attended by District Collector K Mohammed Y Safeerulla, KMRL directors K R Kumar, Thiruman Archunan, D K Sinha and other senior officers, as well as Cochin Smart Mission Ltd.

Hanish handed over a cheque to the chief secretary of `8 lakh, the first instalment of the contribution from KMRL employees, for the CMDRF.