Kochi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) may withdraw from the proposed metro extension beyond Pettah if the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) fails to entrust it with the Tripunithura extension project before August this year. At present, the pact between KMRL and the implementing agency DMRC is with regard to the phase one construction up to Pettah station only.
According to sources, the DMRC wants construction in the two-km Pettah-SN Junction section to be taken up along with that in the Thykoodam-Pettah section next year and insists that the land acquisition process be completed before that. It plans to ask sub-contractor Cherian Varkey Constructions, entrusted with work till Pettah, to carry out construction work in the Pettah-Tripunithura stretch too.
In fact, there is a clause in its agreement with Cherian Varkey Constructions that the agency is entrusted with the work till Pettah "with the option of handing over additional two-km work in the Pettah-SN Junction section and that the same will be conveyed to it before August, 2018". "Otherwise a separate tender is needed to be called for under two-km stretch, a tough job as most contractors will be reluctant to take up the small work. Also it won't be possible to continue operation of the DMRC office in Kochi for the small work if being executed separately," the sources said.
Last week, KMRL managing director Mohammed Hanish said land acquisition in the Pettah-SN Junction section will start soon and that it plans further extension of Metro to Trippunithura railway station and that the same is being discussed with the DMRC. When asked about entrusting the work in the section beyond Pettah, a KMRL spokesperson said its current priority is to finish construction activities up to Pettah.
Meanwhile, residents under the aegis of the Trippunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents Associations (TRURA) will hold a protest at Statue Junction onMarch 10 demanding fast implementation of the Trippunithura extension project. "There is still uncertainty over start of the work in the Pettah-SN Junction section. The land acquisition process, under which 4398 sqmtr need to be acquired, is yet to commence. We demand immediate intervention of the state government for taking up the work in the section on a war-footing," said V.P. Prasad, president, TRURA, in a statement.
