Kochi - Growth out of control

Been to Kochi for taking an exam. That trip afforded me an opportunity to see the 'growth face' of the city. Truly awesome, I should say, especially about the high rises coming up in the vicinity of Marine Drive. Of course, the city will still be a minnow in comparison with the other big cities in India and abroad [since I've not been to such cities, for the time being, Kochi is The Metropolis for me]; yet, it has the potential to rival biggies like Bangalore and Mumbai. It is the only landing site in India for two undersea communication network cables. The proposed Vallarpadam terminal can blaze a trail for the shipping industry. For all this and much more to take place - and that is the point I want to raise in this post - proper planning is absolutely essential. That is exactly what Kochi lacks today.

 

The city today is growing not because of any governmental action; it's growing on its own.  A lot of plans and proposals are announced by the authorities almost on a daily basis. But, no follow-up action is taken on any of these. A case in point is the bus terminal proposed at Vyttila. Due to opposition from the agriculture department of the state govt., it has been held up. Another grouse is with regard to the traffic; the roads need widening for it to ease. There is the need for a couple of fly-overs at key points. It's high time a Mass Rapid Transport System  - a metro rail or a sky bus - is introduced there. There is still a lot of confusion about the rail-road connectivity to Vallarpadam. There are many more such cases, but the bottom line is that if there's no proper urban development planning, we'll only end up choking the city's development down the line.

 

The GCDA can take a leaf out of what's currently happening in Thiruvananthapuram. About 42 kms of roads in the city is being developed / widened and the contract has been given to Punj Loyd Ltd. How efficiently are they going about the job! Their work is mostly done at night, without causing much inconvenience to the city residents. I'm not saying that the TRIDA is matching this efficiency of the company, but the buzz is that 'something is happening', which is a good feeling. Way to go, Kochi and way to go, Thiruvananthapuram!