Kochi Water Metro prepares feasibility plans for systems in 18 cities

Kochi Water Metro Limited has prepared feasibility reports for water metro systems in 18 cities, according to officials who reviewed the agency’s projects on Saturday. A feasibility study is also planned for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Pre-feasibility studies have been carried out in Penang, Malaysia, and on the Mekong River in Vietnam.

The review meeting was chaired by G. Priyanka, the district collector who is also serving as managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Limited. Officials also reported progress on Kochi’s existing water transport network.

Terminals at Kadamakudy and Paliamthuruth are ready for commissioning, while work on their approach roads is nearing completion. Piling work is under way for a proposed ferry terminal near Subhash Bose Park in Kochi. Twenty of the network’s 23 ferries are currently in service.

Cochin Shipyard is expected to deliver another vessel in December, while the remaining two ferries are scheduled for delivery in June 2028. Tenders have been floated to procure 15 additional ferries, each designed to carry 100 passengers. The source material did not provide the value of the tender or a timetable for commissioning the new vessels.

Officials said 77.70 lakh people had travelled on water metro ferries since services were launched in April 2023. The reported passenger figure covers the period from the launch through the date of the review. The feasibility reports represent the agency’s wider effort to assess whether similar water-based urban transport systems could operate in other locations.

The source did not identify the 18 cities covered by the reports or say which projects had received approval for construction.