Kochi: Considering the high-risk in conducting services on the Fort Kochi-Vypeen route that cuts across the 14-metre deep ship channel, the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) will build twin engine “seaworthy” boats similar to the ones deployed in the Kanyakumari-Vivekananda Rock Memorial route.
The initial proposal was to go for a single engine steel vessel costing around '65 lakh.
“The new steel boat will cost Rs 1.5 crore and could accommodate 150 passengers instead of the usual 100. We have earlier constructed two boats, currently deployed in the Kanyakumari-Vivekananda Rock Memorial route. The new boat to the Kochi Corporation will be modelled after those and delivered in eight months time,” said a senior KSINC official.
Kochi Corporation Mayor Soumini Jain said the new design had been approved and the “sturdy” vessel would be deployed by the year-end.
The recent study report submitted to the Local Self Government by K Padmakumar, Additional Director General of Police (South Zone), on the August 26 Fort Kochi boat tragedy, recommended, among one of its main safety suggestions, to allow only double-engine boats to operate near the Kochi sea-mouth that includes the Fort Kochi-Vypeen route.
Meanwhile, the KSINC will also launch a boat service in the Vytilla-Fort Kochi section by October. “It’s a separate project wholly funded by us. The catamaran type fiberglass boat is under construction at the Timblo Dry dock in Goa and has a passenger capacity of 100 commuters,” the official said.
