KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation Council has decided to entrust the Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation Ltd (KITCO) with the preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) for the modernisation of the water transport sector in Kochi. The decision was approved by the special Council that met on Thursday to discuss the pre-feasibilty report prepared by Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) on the steps required to improve water transport in Kochi. Before the approval, the Council hall also witnessed several heated debates between the opposition and ruling front councillors. As per the CDIA report, the formation of an Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is important for controlling the ferry operation in the city. Supporting the proposal, Mayor Tony Chammany said that the Corporation’s annual budget for 2011-12 has also proposed the formation of a company on the lines of the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) for managing the ferry operations in the city. It was ruling front councillor N Venugopal who opposed the decision first and said that the company should be formed only after detailed discussions.“The Corporation had failed earlier in constituting an SPV for managing the operations of the Volvo buses introduced under JNNURM. It is necessary to avoid similar situations,” Venugopal said. Meanwhile, opposition councillor M Anilkumar said that the pre-feasibility report presented by CDIA lacked vision and clarity. “Accepting this report without a close analysis and proper discussion is not acceptable to the opposition,” he said.This led to heated arguments among the councillors. However, the Mayor later announced that the civic body would go ahead with the proposal submitted by CDIA for the betterment of ferry services.“KITCO will prepare the DPR and based on further discussions, the formation of the company will be finalised,” he said.
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