Kochi: After a wait of nearly six months, the Government Order (GO) for constituting the executive committee and the general body of the Vytilla Mobility Hub Society (VMHS) has been issued, paving way for the implementation of the Rs 368-crore second phase project. “There has been certain delay due to technical issues but the GO has been out the other day. The formation of executive council and general body is mandatory for taking decisions regarding Hub,” T.K. Jose, principal secretary, local self government department (LSGD), told DC.
The Hub second phase works have already suffered a delay of over a year. The Hub Society had floated tenders four times during the period of the previous UDF government, including two this year alone – in March and then again in April. “The work was to be carried out on DBFOT (Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer mode). The bidding was done just a month before the elections, however, there were no takers despite the deadline being extended by a month. Then the LDF government came into power and a new executive council and general body needed to be formed before the work could be taken up again,” a senior VMHS official said.
While the chief minister is the governing body chairman, the executive committee usually includes at least 10 officials from all stakeholders including the Kochi Corporation, the collector, the GCDA chairman and the like. “This time, there will be representative from the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd since the Vytilla metro station is coming up inside the Hub,” the official said.
Ernakulam district collector K. Muhammed Y Safirulla IAS, who took charge as the Vytilla Mobility Hub Society managing director, said there are three options for funding – the PPP model, AFD funding or availing loan from a consortium of public banks. “A final decision on this will be decided in the executive committee meet. After that we’ll decide on the modalities for the Detailed Project Report (DPR),” the collector said.
