30 March 2015
City-to-city cooperation for public transport integration in Kochi (India)
On
the 26th and 27th of march 2014, CODATU organized a workshop in order to create an Integrated Transport System in Kochi. Kochi is the commercial capital of Kerala and the largest agglomeration of the state, a green strip of land located in the southwest corner of India. Kochi city has a flat topography characterized by small and large islands scattered in the area within the Vembanad lake. The characteristic feature of Kochi is the predominance of water bodies (canals, backwaters) and wetlands.
WORKSHOP ON UNIFIED METROPOLITAN AUTHORITY IN KOCHI
Workshop in Kochi about the creation of UMTA Kochi
About 50 people, from all the institutions involved in transport and mobility, attended this workshop: Kochi Corporation, Greater Cochin Development Authority, Kerala State Road Transport Company (KSRTC), municipalities, indian railways…
The idea of this workshop was to set up an Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) in Kochi, in order to coordinate all the existing transport authorities and create a unified and integrated transport network. UMTAs have already been set up in other cites like Hyderabad, Chennai, Indore, Jaipur and Pune.
This workshop has been organized in partnership with the indian SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), created by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and the government of Kerala in 2012. KMRL is in charge of building a metro system in this 2 million inhabitants metropolis, and is really interested in creating an integrated transport system around the metro.
This workshop led by Julien ALLAIRE and Etienne LHOMET:
- Formulated a common vision on the main steps to achieve Kochi Urban Transport Policy in the coming years.
- Identified the role of the different institutions and their implication in setting-up an integrated transport network along with the commissioning of the metro.
- Defined a road map with the priority actions to be taken by the future Transport Authority (UMTA).
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE THROUGH CITY TO CITY COOPERATION
The metro is under construction in Kochi. It will open in 2016.
In the scope of AFD funding of Kochi Metro, a technical assistance agreement has been established between SYTRAL (Lyon Transport Authority), AFD (French Agency for Development), KMRL and CODATU.
This partnership started with the visit of a delegation from KMRL in Lyon, on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of February 2015. This study tour gave to the different partners the opportunity to know each other and to draw a road map of actions for the first semester.
This two-year technical assistance will be organized around visits of various experts from SYTRAL to accompany KMRL on crucial issues as public transport integration, transit oriented development, intermodality, urban design, operation and maintenance, etc.
Thanks to this partnership, CODATU will be represented in India by Marion Hoyez (Cooperation Project Manager for CODATU), based in KMRL (Kochi), who will be in charge of managing this cooperation.
