KOCHI: Based on public demand and pressure from council members, City Corporation authorities are planning to entrust the operation of the modern RO-RO vessels to the Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation. Though there were plans to entrust the service to a private agency, it had to be dropped following opposition from various quarters. A steering committee meeting has proposed to entrust the service to KSINC until a special purpose vehicle is formed for operating the modern vessels. Mayor Soumini Jain said that a final decision would be taken after consulting KSINC officials. “Since the officials were not available on Friday, a meeting will be held with them soon,” she said.
The vessels, the first of its kind introduced by any local body in the state, is built at a cost of Rs 7.98 crore while Rs 7.62 crore was spent for constructing terminals at both jetties. Since the civic body is not equipped to run the vessels, the service has been entrusted with the government agency. Meanwhile, the successful trial run of the vessels was conducted on Friday along the Fort Kochi – Vypeen route. Mayor Soumini Jain, K.V Thomas MP, K.J Maxi MLA, Corporation standing committee chairpersons Shainy Mathew, Gracy Joseph, V.K Minimol, A.B Sabu, P.M Haris, KVP Krishna Kumar, councillors, officials of the Cochin Port Trust and Cochin Shipyard were present during the trial run.
“Steps are afoot to launch the commercial service of the RO-RO vessels at the earliest,” the Mayor added. Each vessel can carry either four trucks or 12 cars with 50 passengers. The double-end roll-on roll-off vessels will help faster movement of vehicles since both ends will serve as exit and entry. With this, congestion and waiting time at jetties can be reduced considerably and will be a game changer in the water transport sector.
