Commuters and tourists who yearned to travel in Water Metro ferries to Fort Kochi and Mattancherry — the two busiest ferry corridors in Ernakulam will have to wait till at least December, when the Fort Kochi jetty is expected to be commissioned.
This will be three months after the tourism season begins, while work on a jetty at the adjacent Mattancherry has not yet begun, despite tenders being invited for the third time. Making matters worse, ferries that stopped calling at the State Water Transport department (SWTD) jetty located next to the Water Metro jetty site around five years ago, are yet to resume service, thanks to delay in renovating the jetty and dredging the premises.
Commuters and stakeholders in tourism and trade sectors are peeved at the slack water transport connectivity to the two world-famous tourist locales even as the tourist season is around the corner. Fear is rife that tourists and others will have to make their way through narrow and congested roads and bridges to reach the two locales which were hitherto linked by ferries from the mainland.
Sources in Kochi Water Metro Limited (KWML) attributed the delay in commissioning the Fort Kochi jetty to the need to build a marine platform there in addition to floating pontoons that is the norm in all Water Metro jetties. This is because the jetty is located near the sea. They cited the need for German lending agency KfW’s approval for the tender documents of jetties proposed at Mattancherry and 19 other sites as a reason for delay in kickstarting ground-level works for the tender package comprising 20 jetties. There is also a need for more ferries that the Cochin Shipyard must deliver to operate from the mainland to West Kochi and other proposed routes, they added.
Petition to CM
Fed up with the inordinate delay in readying the Mattancherry jetty and Water Metro connectivity from mainland Kochi to West Kochi, the Mattancherry Water Metro Action Council recently sent a petition to the Chief Minister. “We decided to take up the issue with the Chief Minister since commuters and others have to struggle to reach the mainland and back through chaotic roads in the absence of water transport connectivity. Water Metro and SWTD ferries that help commuters reach there in less than half the time through the road route would also be much cheaper, while also providing a low-carbon footprint ride through scenic backwaters which have heritage buildings on the banks,” said Arafat Nazar, its secretary.
The body has been on the warpath for over two years, citing how thousands of foreign and domestic tourists skipped Mattanchery due to absence of ferry connectivity, despite it being a hub of spices, handicrafts, and antiques and home to one of the oldest synagogues and the famous Dutch Palace.
Council president Kishore Shyamji referred to how readying the Mattancherry Jetty held key to improving patronage in Water Metro ferries. “The delay has resulted in the worksite turning into a garbage dumping yard. The general impression is that commuters and tourists are being cheated, including by vested interests in the locality. Water Metro ferries will enable commuters to travel in comfort to mainland Kochi, Willingdon Island, Vypeen, Kakkanad, and Aluva, among other locations,” he said.
