KOCHI: The Union Government has selected Kochi along with some other major cities in the country, for constituting Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA).
With this, Kochi will get the Central support in constituting UMTA and Urban Transport Fund (UTF). The city corporation received an official communication from the director of urban transport division of Ministry of Urban Development in this regard. UMTA is being constituted in Kochi as part of implementing the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP).
As the city has been selected by the Ministry of Urban Development for constituting UMTA, consultants from the ministry will soon visit the city and their expert service will be made available. UMTA is designed to integrate bus, train and boat services so as to make the public transport system in the city more effective. In October last, the Mayor has written a letter to MoUD requesting support in constituting UMTA for Kochi. The city corporation has also requested the MoUD to appoint a nodal officer for taking up the proposal.
The Mayor will soon convene a meeting of various stakeholders to discuss further steps to be taken on constituting UMTA.
“The city corporation has been giving due prominence to the urban transport sector, especially formation of UMTA in the annual budgets. UMTA will be able to bring a creative and comprehensive change in the urban transport,” remarked Mayor ,Mr. Tony Chammany.
In June last, a workshop on UMTA and UTF was held in Kochi, attended by various stakeholders, and the recommendations of the meeting were submitted to the MoUD.
The formation of UMTA is crucial for the Kochi Metro Rail project as without having proper connectivity and seamless ticketing, it won’t be successful.
