Local bodies on Saturday passed a resolution to hand over land at four places for the construction of terminals for the ₹750-crore Water Metro project of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL).
Accordingly, the metro agency will get 27.40 cents at Kadamakudy, 33.76 cents at Mulavukad, 135.9 cents at Cheranalloor, and 27.10 cents at Kumbalam. Additional Chief Secretary (Local Self Governing Bodies) T.K. Jose had given permissive sanction to transfer the land for the Water Metro project, KMRL sources said.
The metro agency had drawn up plans to earmark a portion in each ferry terminal as commercial space to raise non-ticketing revenue for the operation and maintenance of the Water Metro.
The biggest terminal will be at the Vyttila Mobility Hub, and it will be spread over 40,000 sq ft. Land for 14 terminals falling under nine panchayats had been handed over to KMRL earlier. The first lot of ferries that are expected by the end of the year will operate on the Vyttila-Kakkanad route, it said.
Aimed at lessening land acquisition, 90% of boat terminals will be floating pontoons.
The advantage is that these structures, though held in place from all four sides, keep floating in accordance with high and low tides. This helps in safe embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, irrespective of tidal variations, sources said.