Kochi Metro Rail Limited for greening city open spaces

Kochi: The environment impact assessment report, approved by the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) board meeting last week, has suggested conserving and greening  open spaces in the city as part of the company’s contribution to protecting its environment.

“While during the construction phase, it is the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s responsibility to comply with the environment management and monitoring plan,   it is the KMRL, which will identify open spaces to be conserved and developed later. It will carry out the greening initiatives as part of its corporate social responsibility,” say KMRL sources.

The Metro agency, which  plans to shell out Rs 2.17 crore on implementing the proposed environment management and monitoring plan, will establish an Environmental Monitoring Cell to review the greening initiatives. While  Rs. 50 lakh  will be  the recurring cost,  Rs. 1.67 crore will be one-time expenditure on greening and developing open spaces.

So far 4,770 saplings have been planted  under the tree planting suggested by the EIA report.

Corporation town planning committee chairman, K J Sohan, says he is ready to support the KMRL in preparing a scientific open space management and preservation plan. “Though most of the open spaces in and around the city have been encroached upon and it is difficult to expand the existing spaces, they can be preserved,” he says.  

While urban planning norms stipulate the city should reserve 10 to 15 per cent of its area for  open spaces, Kochi has only 0.3 per cent open space.  Only areas like Fort Kochi and Mattancherry in West Kochi have a few open grounds and  spaces.