Over a year after its ambitious launch, KMTA left in the lurch

Finance department yet to take a call on appointing economists and experts in the agency

The Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA), the first of its kind in the country with legislative backing, is struggling to stay afloat, 13 months after its inauguration. The authority was expected to act as an umbrella agency to streamline parking, integrate commuting modes, and usher in route rationalisation of buses in the Greater Kochi area.

The situation is attributed mainly to the Finance Department not taking a call on appointing economists and experts in transport, urban planning and related fields in the body, despite repeated requests and follow-ups. Bereft of them, KMTA, which was vested with wide-ranging powers to plan, coordinate and supervise transport-related matters that affect a population of over a million people, is left with just a managing director and two technical experts, ever since its launch on November 1, 2020. This has also resulted in much of the office space that was taken on ₹80,000 monthly rent, remaining vacant.

“The body has not been able to do the spade work and implement decisions taken at two director board meetings chaired by the Minister for Transport. The decisions include formation of committees comprising personnel from departments like the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) as well as the Kochi Corporation, bus route rationalisation, finalising a parking policy, implementing a full-fledged open mobility network, and permitting entry of buses from Goshree Islands, which now terminate trips at High Court Junction, into the city,” sources said.