Kochi Metro Board gives nod for metro extension to Kakkanad

Kochi: Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) board Tuesday approved the proposal for extension of the Metro System by 11.17 km from Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at Kaloor to Infopark via Kakkanad at an estimated cost of Rs 1,600 crore.

The decision in this regard was taken at the board meeting at Delhi Tuesday.

Early completion of this extension would help improve the viability of Phase-I of the metro project, a KMRL press release here said.

The Board also approved a proposal to undertake the work on improving and strengthening city roads at a total cost of Rs 31.10 crore.

Of this, works to the tune of around Rs 11.10 crore would be undertaken by KMRL out of its own fund and for the balance reimbursement would be sought from the state government.

The report of Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy and R&R package for Kochi Metro project was also approved at the 18th meeting of Board of Directors of KMRL.

The policy has been prepared generally in accordance with the requirements of Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARRA) and the social safeguard guidelines of the funding agencies.

Though KMRL is not legally obliged to provide R&R benefits arising from LARRA to Project Affected Persons (PAP) for LA procedures started before January 1 this year to ensure an equitable and best-in-class package, KMRL is extending the LARRA benefits to all PAPs. The total cost implication for the R&R package is Rs 25 crore for 332 affected families.

The meeting was chaired by Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development.

The board also approved the report on Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Management and Monitoring Plan for Kochi Metro Project.

Though the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) does not require Metro Corporation to conduct EIA due to its positive impacts, KMRL had decided to conduct EIA and the study was undertaken by M/S Senes Consultants Pvt Ltd.

The cost of implementating the proposed Environment Management and Monitoring Plan would be Rs 2.17 crore, comprising Rs 0.50 crore as recurring cost and Rs 1.67 crore as one-time cost towards open space development and greening.

The Director Board also took note of the induction of three new members in the board - V K Jain, Additional Member (works), Railways, K M Abraham, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), Kerala Government and Narasim Prasad, Director Systems, Chennai Metro Rail Limited.