Kerala - Kochi
Vyttila bus terminal: Transport Minister extends support

Staff Reporter

Corporation proposed the project to reduce traffic congestion

KOCHI: Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas has said that his department is willing to extend all possible help for the construction of a bus terminal for the State transport buses at Vyttila Junction.

The Minister was speaking to reporters while visiting the computerised Regional Transport Authority Office at Kakkanad on Thursday.

The proposal for the bus terminal at Vyttila has been pending before the authorities for many years. The Kochi Corporation mooted the idea as a solution to reduce the traffic congestion in the city roads.

It is expected that once the long-distance buses which now have to ply along the city roads to reach the KSRTC Station stop entering the city, a heavy load on the city traffic could be lifted.

Though the district panchayat has not yet taken any step regarding the bus terminal, it is planning to draw up a comprehensive plan for the development of the entire district, in which the bus terminal will occupy an important place. A meeting of the district panchayat in the last week of May had decided to go ahead with the project and meet the Agriculture Minister for getting the land owned by the Agriculture Department at Vyttila Junction.

The development plan will be placed before a meeting of the MLAs and Fisheries Minister S. Sarma, to be held soon.

The previous district panchayat committee had drafted a Rs.20-crore plan for the bus terminal project, which it suggested to be built on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The report was drafted by ICICI Kinfra and submitted in July, 2005. A request presented by the Kochi Corporation was turned down by the Agricultural Department in 2004.

The Agricultural Department owns about 25 acres near Vyttila Junction where several offices, including the Assistant Executive Engineer's Office, Parasite Breeding Station, Krishi Bhavan, Soil Testing Laboratory, Regional Agricultural Technology Training Centre and Coconut Nursery, function. The land also includes 18 acres, which was handed over to the Kerafed (Kerakarshaka Sahakarana Federation).

Kerafed project
The Kerafed's project for setting up a factory for producing coconut milk powder and desiccated coconut powder at this spot is still remaining on paper. The foundation stone for the factory was laid by the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in December, 2004. The factory was supposed to have been functional by December, 2005, but the vast area in the midst of the busy Vyttila Junction is still lying fallow.

The employees of the Agriculture Department had protested against the move to shift their offices for building the bus terminal.

The Association of Agriculture Officers (Kerala) had come out against the move. An Action Council for the Protection of Vyttila Farm was also formed.

Meanwhile, it was also pointed out that the bus terminal would only add to the already heavy traffic experienced by Vyttila Junction at all hours of the day and that it should ideally be located farther away from the city, either at Kundannur or Maradu along the NH Bypass.
(The Hindu, June 9, 2006)