Modern electric hybrid air-conditioned ferries that are similar to Water Metro ferries operated by Kochi Water Metro Limited (KWML) in the Greater Kochi area will begin operating a few years down the lane in Kollam and other districts in the State that abut the shoddily underutilised 610-km Kovalam-Bekal west coast canal, if everything works as planned.
The agency has already done a preliminary assessment of the potential to operate such ferries in the sprawling backwaters of Kollam and held discussions with the town’s Mayor and other municipal authorities. The key advantages of Kollam is that operational expenses of the ferries there will be much lower than in Kochi, thanks to cleaner, deeper and placid waters, shorter distances between halts and the need for much smaller terminals.
Yet another advantage vis-a-vis Kochi is that water hyacinth and low-pressure hassles are not much of a threat there. Big ferries capable of transporting 100 passengers would be ideal for Kollam, although Kochi would get a mix of twenty-three 100-passenger and fifty-five 50-passenger ferries, informed sources said.
