Kochi: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called a review meet of senior officials of the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) and the Delhi Metro Rail Ltd (DMRC) following charges that the metro constructions works are progressing at a slow pace. “We’ve been communicated of the meeting to analyse the project progress. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for December 11 when the Chief Minister will be visiting Kochi,” said a metro official. P.T. Thomas, MLA, who took up the issue with the Chief Minister said, another meet will be held on the same day in which all MLAs of the constituencies through which the metro rail is being laid will attend besides the officials from KMRL and the DMRC.
“The attempt is to provide all outside help for the fast progress of the Kochi metro works. Though it’s said that the trains will be first operated in the Aluva-Palarivattom stretch, we’ll demand the concerned authorities to quickly finish the work upto the Maharajas College Jn.,” he said. Though the civil works are scheduled to be finished by December, the station construction works are still pending. The DMRC needs to hand over the stations to the KMRL for decoration and theme installation works which is expected to take two months. Another issue is the delay in arrival of metro rakes to facilitate the integrated trials. Currently only two rakes have been delivered by Alstom, and only one of them has the CBTC (Communications-based Train control) installed.
