KOCHI: Even as the government is straining its every nerve to cut down expenses due to mounting financial constraints, two luxury passenger catamarans, the construction of which cost around Rs 5 crore to the state exchequer, are lying unused for years, thanks to the flawed planning of the authorities.
The catamarans, Michelle and Cleopatra, the construction of which cost Rs 2.4 crore each to the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC), have been mostly lying unused for the past four years ago in Kochi backwaters.
The fibre vessels, constructed in Goa in 2018, were added to the KSINC fleet with the intention to operate between Vytilla hub and Kakkanad. Once the construction was completed, no boat jetty was available there. Officials claim though they asked irrigation department to construct a boat jetty at Kakkanad, the latter did not take it up.
“This forced us to approach Water Metro authorities and state water transport department (SWTD) requesting them to utilize the vessels for their operational purpose. But both the agencies refused to add these catamarans to their fleet. Metro officials said they are looking for electrical vessels and SWTD said they are constructing their own catamarans. Other than utilizing Michelle for transporting the workers for shipbuilding once, we could not use it for anything,” said a senior official with KSINC.
“We cannot say that the catamarans were constructed without a vision and well planning. When the corporation was planning and executing the construction of catamarans, the concept of Water Metro had not even popped up. Once the construction was completed the boat jetty was not there. By the time Water Metro concept was introduced and it was decided to operate Water Metro on the Vyttila hub-Kakkanad stretch,” said the official.
The vessel Cleopatra was used for a short period by a private party in Kozhikode, which took it for lease, before the pandemic struck in 2020.
Now the corporation is looking for the cooperation of private players when it dry lease the catamarans for tourism purpose in order to recoup the amount.
The vessels, with a passenger capacity of 130 each, were constructed on fast ferry mode with around 12 nautical miles speed and 220HP engine capacity.
The dual engine vessels have currently been anchored at the High Court boat jetty.
Another official said private parties are coming and examining the vessels now. “A team from Gujarat examined the vessels on Monday. We hope someone will be interested to operate the catamarans on lease,” said another official.
During the dry lease period, KSINC need not to provide manpower support to operate the vessels.
