The Kerala Government and the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) have entered into an agreement to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement the Kochi water metro project.
While 74 per cent of the equity in the SPV, which will be known as Kochi Water Metro Limited (KWML), will be held by the state government, the remaining 26 per cent would be with KMRL. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed by Chief Secretary of Kerala V P Joy and Managing Director of KMRL K R Jyothilal.
As per the agreement, the operations and maintenance of the water metro would be carried out by the SPV. The water metro would be headed by the KMRL MD and the board would have eight directors. While five directors will be government nominees, the other three persons would be appointed by KMRL.
The Kochi Water Metro project involves connecting 10 islands in Kochi spending Rs 747 crore. In the first phase, services would cover a distance of 76 km with 78 electric boats. As many as 38 boat jetties would also be built.