A decision on taking forward the project to build an integrated bus terminal in four acres owned by the KSRTC at Karikkamuri here is expected to be taken by the year-end. The governing body of the Vyttila Mobility Hub Society (VMHS) is set to take a call on the terms and conditions of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that it will ink with the KSRTC and Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML), which has offered ₹12 crore for the first phase of the project.
This comes in the wake of rising outrage on social media and among passengers and KSRTC employees over the deplorable state of the existing KSRTC bus depot and its premises which are vulnerable to waterlogging. According to the plan, the land will be handed over to VMHS, while the KSRTC will get three acres on the 25-acre VMH premises. This will enable commuters to choose between KSRTC and private buses from both locales. Stakeholders are also making efforts to ready a 12-feet-wide pathway to link the proposed integrated bus terminal at Karikkamuri with the Ernakulam Junction railway station located less than a kilometre away.
Even as VMHS is expected to take a call on the MoU, the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), which has been tasked with conducting a traffic study, is expected to submit the report in a month. On its part, the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) will submit a report on the steps that ought to be taken to prevent waterlogging on the premises, informed sources said.
