KMRL floats tender to beautify Edappally-Petta Metro stretch

Kochi: The Metro stretch from Edappally to Petta was envisioned as the city's ‘green lungs', with the 524 medians lined with greenery and flowering plants. However, the plan faltered due to lack of sponsors to maintain the green zone, leaving most stretches neglected.Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) is once again attempting to revive the green spaces and has invited tenders to redevelop and maintain the greenery on hundreds of vacant medians from Edapally to Petta. This time, the approach is more structured. The selected contractor will be responsible for developing and maintaining it under the sponsorship-driven model. So far, KMRL has directly maintained the medians through sponsors. However, only 64 medians could be maintained, while 460 vacant spots are currently in poor condition. "Maintenance of medians will include landscaping, green cover management and potentially limited branding/advertising rights as per KMRL policy," Metro sources said. "However, the contractor is responsible for ensuring that the greenery is revived along the medians.. It is their responsibility to find sponsors to set up and maintain gardens along the stretch. KMRL won't indulge in the same," they pointed out. At the start, Kochi Metro corridor featured significant greenery. The most striking was the vertical garden on every sixth pillar along Aluva-Palarivattom stretch. The medians were also well maintained with various shrubs and ornamental plants. The goal was to compensate for the trees removed during construction and to improve the air quality. However, many of the medians became overgrown and littered with garbage due to lack of sustained sponsorship and maintenance. There are 989 medians along the 28-km stretch from Aluva to Pettah. Of these, 465 fall under the jurisdiction of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). "NHAI is responsible for maintaining the Aluva-Edappally section," the sources said. However, NHAI is yet to take steps for greenery along the medians, though the central agency maintains the same in Edappally-Aroor NH 66 bypass section. Last year, KMRL considered paving the medians with tiles, following the garbage menace. However, this move drew criticism from various quarters. Several high profile politicians, including industries minister P Rajeeve, Hibi Eden, MP, and T J Vinod, MLA, collectively urged KMRL managing director Loknath Behera to prioritise the Metro's ‘green lungs'. KMRL held follow-up discussions with oil firm BPCL and District Horticulture Society, to provide technical expertise and CSR funding. However, the same didn't fructify. To ensure the new initiative doesn't meet the same fate as previous attempts, KMRL is pitching the medians as a ‘low-cost, high-visibility' branding opportunity. "This provides a cost-effective alternative to conventional hoardings, which can cost lakhs," the officials noted.
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