Waterway to link Kochi and Airport soon

KOCHI: Kochiites will soon be able to land at the Nedumbassery international airport by water! In a bid to ease the traffic congestion in the city, the district administration has come up with an ambitious project.  Efforts have already begun for setting up a Kochi-Nedumbassery waterway project, said District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth. The project is envisaged as part of the plans to develop waterways in the city, said the Collector.“Kochi is one of the few cities which is blessed with proper waterways for inland navigation. We should make use of the facility. In the first phase, the city will be connected with the international airport through boat service in the Kadambrayar river,” said the Collector.He pointed out that the major difficulty in achieving the goal is the cleaning of canals filled with mud and hyacinths. The traditional method of cleaning canals will not be effective here. If cleaning is carried out with the help of JCBs or junkars only, the waste on the surface can be removed. That is why the district administration is planning to introduce new machinery for cleaning, he said.“It has been found that the US-made machinery is good for removing all  hyacinths,” he said.Stating that the Marine Drive-Vyttila-Infopark-Nedumbassery waterway would change the face of the city, he said that the travel time to Nedumbassery would be just 35 minutes.Pareeth said that jet boats that would not pollute the waterways would be preferable. A trial run would be conducted on the route on Thursday,” he said.