What was till recently a dilapidated and ill-lit walkway on the Fort Kochi beachfront wears a better look now, thanks to Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) installing new lamp posts and lights, and also repairing much of the broken tiles.
This is as a prelude to extending the Kochi Water Metro services in the High Court-Fort Kochi corridor. The Fort Kochi terminal of the Water Metro is located beside the walkway, at the beginning of the row of Chinese fishing nets.
A total of 116 lamp posts and lights were installed on the walkway, heeding to demand from visitors and the rising safety concerns on the walkway and the beach. “In addition, it was decided to renovate four fish kiosks, based on which a pair of demo models have been displayed there. The Kochi Corporation’s concurrence for this is awaited. Altogether, 95% of the project to preen up the popular beach is over,” KMRL sources said.
Opposition leader Antony Kureethara, who represents the Fort Kochi Division in the Corporation council said he had taken up the plight of the dilapidated walkway and problems due to inadequate lights with the metro agency. “In addition to the new lamp posts and lights, a total of three high-mast lights were installed at vantage points on the walkway, helping lit up the beach where hundreds converged every day.”
He rued that Kerala Tourism (KT) did little to repair the walkway and to augment lights, despite frequent assurances, following which KMRL executed the work. “I hope KT wakes up at least now and completes the rest of the badly needed infrastructure works. They include renovating a cabin for life guards which does not even have a toilet and the renovation of a ramp near the south beach. On its part, an excavator that had been deployed to frequently clean the beach must be redeployed,” he added.
Tourism stakeholders have been citing the need for a master plan to contain sea erosion and to make available tourist-friendly infrastructure like pay-and-use toilets at the Fort Kochi beach and in rest of the heritage zone. This would also help source corporate social responsibility funds to implement proposals like the one to landscape either side of the Fort Kochi beach walkway to prevent littering and encroachments and to replace damaged benches and dust bins.
Maintaining that funds paucity and slack inter-departmental coordination were delaying projects, KT had announced in 2023 that it could seek help from public sector units and private players to restore heritage locales like Fort Kochi to their past glory.
