KOCHI: After a gap of nine months, a three-member delegation from the French funding agency AFD (Agence Française de Développement) is visiting Kochi to evaluate the progress of the project. The team will also assess the status of the Kakkanad extension, which also has been proposed for funding from AFD. It was in July last year that the AFD team visited Metro sites and reviewed the construction works.
The team consisting of Nicolas FORNAGE, regional director for South Asia, Cheikh DIA, project officer, and Juliette Le Pannerer, project coordinator, Delhi, will be in Kochi on Wednesday and Thursday. They will visit the sites along the metro corridor, the coach maintenance depot at Muttom and also the proposed alignment of Kakkanad line, from Jawaharlal Nehru stadium to Infopark.
“The Kakkanad line proposal is awaiting the clearance of Public Investment Board and the Cabinet. Though AFD is ready for funding, the proposal has to get necessary approvals from all agencies before submitting it for loan assistance,” KMRL sources said.
The team is also planning to visit the Vyttila Mobility Hub, which assumes importance as the central integration point of different modes of traffic. After the site visit, the delegation will have discussions with Kochi Metro Rail Limited managing director Elias George and other senior officials. KMRL and the AFD delegation will also have discussions on the current and future urban area development initiatives being undertaken by Metro authorities with the technical assistance of AFD.
CODATU (Conference on Development and Improvement of Urban Transport), an associate of AFD and an international non-profit agency, has earlier offered technical assistance to develop Edappally and Vyttila as the major city sub-centres and rejuvenation of MG Road. It has also adopted Kochi as a model city for climate-friendly urban mobility programmes
