The Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA) that was commissioned in November 2020 as an autonomous agency which would revolutionalise commuting in the Greater Kochi area, is gasping for breath.
The promising body that was readied on the lines of Transport for London (TFL) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore, is the sole MTA in India with full-fledged legislative backing.
“Over eight months since its inception, the State government has not appointed technically-qualified personnel to conceive projects to decongest the city, streamline modes of commute and to execute them. This is because the Finance Department has not responded to repeated requests, seeking its permission to appoint a dozen personnel. Subsequently, the office space at Revenue Tower in the city is idling,” sources said.
It does not even have a full-time CEO, with the result that Jafar Malik, the CEO of Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) and the MD of Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) is holding additional charge of the body. It has as Special Officer Shaji Madhavan who was recently promoted as Deputy Transport Commissioner. Devoid of dedicated personnel, the KMTA is unable to ready plans and to implement them, although ₹₹2.5-crore was allotted in the State Budget.
“Adequate number of technical hands - like traffic planners and urban designers, are crucial for KMTA to overcome its birth pangs. Only then can the body which wields tremendous powers to integrate and streamline multiple modes of commute, function effectively. The immediate tasks in hand include revising Kochi’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) - which will study rerouting of buses through corridors where there is demand, readying of a parking policy which would enable identification of parking lots through a digital platform, and streamlining the entry of buses from Goshree islands into the city - for which NATPAC is expected to submit a study report in three months,” the sources said.
On its part, the government must ready a notification to bring areas under GCDA and GIDA too under KMTA, so that reforms benefit commuters in suburban towns as well.
Minister’s assurance
Responding to the issue, Minister for Transport Antony Raju (who chaired a KMTA meeting in June) said that a framework will be shortly readied so that decisions taken at the two KMTA meetings held so far can be implemented, in keeping with the body's vision.
