Cochin Discussions

[KMC]

I still cant understand what the hell is stopping govt from building flyovers at Vytila and kundanoor

The worst traffic I seen , it took me 3 signals to cross vytila Junction... Its nightmare to cross vytila .... when these buggers will wake up to the needs of the city .... its cruel to kochi ....

[arunpr]

Kerala Govt has already submitted the plan to NHAI to construct the flyovers 6 years back.

NHAI is only interested in BOT projects. They are not at all interested in any other projects other than BOT road projects. NHAI is getting lot of funds, but they are not utilising it properly.

Flyover projects hanging fire



Staff Reporter








Photo: Vipin Chandran

Crowded JUNCTION: Traffic at a snail’s pace at Vytilla Junction. —

KOCHI: The National Highways Authority of India has not made any headway on the proposal to construct flyovers at the congested Edapally, Palarivattom, Vytilla and Kundanoor junctions on NH 47.

The flyovers were mooted around five years ago, as a solution to motorists waiting in serpentine queues and having to inch ahead, to make their way through traffic that gets unmanageable during peak times at the four junctions. Of late, the queues have begun to extend over half-a-kilometre on all the sides at each junction.

Apart from huge amounts of fuel that are wasted and the ensuing pollution, motorists entering into tiffs with one another over the ‘right of way’, too are becoming common.

The Authority’s lack of foresight and planning has resulted in the free-left turns having inadequate width. Thus, vehicles intending to take a free-left turn too are forced to wait endlessly in the queue.

An example is the Palarivattom bypass junction, where the narrow free-left turns continue to be bottlenecks, despite the Authority spending Rs. 27 lakh to widen them by relocating the footpaths. The free-left turn on the south-eastern side of the Edapally bypass junction too is extremely narrow, despite there being ample land that could be acquired beyond the footpath.

Indiscriminate parking on the north-western side of Vytilla Junction impedes the movement of vehicles intending to take a left turn. None of the junctions have a ‘reserve lane’, for parking vehicles awaiting the signal to take a right-angled turn.

An NHAI official said that the flyover projects are awaiting the nod from the Union Surface Transport Ministry. “A detailed project report is yet to be prepared. Everything would depend on pressure exerted on the Ministry by people’s representatives and the State Government. The flyovers are likely to be built along the highway, linking the north with the south, so that highway users need not wait for the signal at the junction.”

The ineptitude of the sponsors in carrying out timely repairs on the electronic-signal systems at the junctions has further compounded motorists’ woes. The electronic timer boards too have become dysfunctional, with the result that motorists have to wait with the clutch pressed on. This causes immense wastage of fuel and also air pollution.

Even basic road markings like pedestrian lines, the ‘stop line’ beyond which vehicles should not park and the intermittent lines that divide the lanes are absent at the four junctions.

[Kiru_PTA]

CSEZ turnover

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Business at Cochin Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) during the last financial year touched more than Rs.17,000 crore, according to provisional figures for the period. The Special Economic Zone had a business turnover of Rs.14,500 crore during the previous financial year. Though food processing and textile units were hit by the world-wide economic recession, the other units did well during the year, said C. J. Mathew, Development Commissioner. Food processing and textile units' performance fell about 10 per cent during the year, he said.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/29/stor...2959960300.htm

[Kiru_PTA]

Route diversion for service buses

Staff Reporter

To ease traffic at five major junctions on MG Road

Service buses to Thevara, Willingdon Island and West Kochi regions will be diverted from KPCC Junction from May 1.


KOCHI: The City Traffic Police (West) is planning to bring about a major change in route for private buses on experimental basis, which might not get the approval of bus operators.

The idea is to keep the buses off the M.G. Road between KPCC Junction and Ravipuram to ease traffic snarls at Woodland Junction, Jos Junction, Dwaraka Junction, Pallimukku Junction and Ravipuram Junction.

Service buses to Thevara, Willingdon Island and West Kochi regions will be diverted from KPCC Junction between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. from May 1 onwards. All buses that come from Shenoys side and operate along M.G. Road and those entering M.G. Road from Hospital Road should deviate to Chittoor Road from KPCC Junction by taking Iyattu Junction.

From there, these buses will proceed along South Girl's High School Junction, Railway Station Road, Kalathilparambu Road, Ramankutty Achan Road, South Railway Overbridge Underpass, K.P.N. Menon Road, V.R.M. Road and enter Ravipuram Junction in front of Ravipuram Temple and re-enter M.G. Road before proceeding to Thevara side.

As for the existing bus stops, the one at Jose Junction will be shifted to Railway Station Road and the one at Pallimukku to Ramankutty Achan Road on the northern side of South Railway Station Overbridge.

Parking will not be allowed on either sides of Railway Station Road, Kalathilparambu Road, Ramankutty Achan Road, underpass of South Railway Overbridge, K.P.N. Menon, V.R.M. Road and Ravipuram Road.

K.B. Venugopal, Assistant Commissioner of Police, City Traffic (West), said that service buses could cross junctions at Woodlands, Jos, Dwaraka, Pallimukku and Ravipuram without waiting for traffic signals if they follow the new route. Passengers getting down at South Railway Station and travelling towards West Kochi will find this change in route helpful.

Similarly, those going to South Railway Station could take buses from West Kochi, the release said. The traffic reform is expected to reduce traffic along these five junctions by around 50 per cent, while making it easy for light vehicles entering M.G. Road from Sahoradaran Ayyappan Road, Durbar Hall Road and Warriam Road.

[induzcreed]

Marina Club & Suites

[induzcreed]

it is catchin up high...could see today more no.of yachts docked. i guess anything b/w 12 to 15 for sure.....fantastic

[India101]

Nice pics! Can't wait for more projects on the water front like Dewa, DLF, Purvankara etc to be complete. Will look amazing with all the yatchs in the marina.

[KMC]

Originally Posted by India101

Nice pics! Can't wait for more projects on the water front like Dewa, DLF, Purvankara etc to be complete. Will look amazing with all the yatchs in the marina.

its 50 acres waiting for development at Marine drive , can you imagine how that place will look like once its developed!!!!!

[sunnythomas.85]

Hello Guys,

Lets take a break from hot infrastructure discussions. Just an opinion gathering. How do you feel the quality of newly opened KFC restaurant in Kochi? I happened to visit KFC Kochi several times, only to find the quality of food is extremely poor when compared to KFC outlets in Bangalore or Chennai or Delhi. Most of the chicken happens to be stale and bread rolls in burgers happens to crumble and sticky. Do you feel KFC Kochi is taking Kochinites on ride when compared to its counterparts in other Indian cities?

[sanjupalayat]

Originally Posted by KMC

its 50 acres waiting for development at Marine drive , can you imagine how that place will look like once its developed!!!!!

I am sad there wont be taller ones as mumbai....

[induzcreed]

Originally Posted by sanjupalayat

I am sad there wont be taller ones as mumbai....

it may not be possible due to hight restrictions confined to the marinedrive masterplan. Also Marinedrive is in close proximity to southern naval command's air strip.

Glad to see yu back

[sanjupalayat]

Originally Posted by induzcreed

it may not be possible due to hight restrictions confined to the marinedrive masterplan. Also Marinedrive is in close proximity to southern naval command's air strip.

Glad to see yu back

Is it really a Marine drive guys...Marine means related to sea, its just a water front or a lake drive...watz ur openion guys, dont take it in a wrong way...

[DileepKS]

I had a tough time explaining the term 'bay' to my son, in connection to the San Francisco Bay.

We have the Bay of Bengal, and then the SFO Bay. Tough to explain. Then he asked why the Vembanad lake is not called Cochin Bay?

Someone called it Marine Drive, and the name stuck. No more need to look into the semantics.

[arunpr]

Riding on improving business confidence, Corporate India’s online hiring activity rose for the fifth month in a row, leading recruitment services provider Monster India said.

The Monster Employment Index, a monthly gauge based on a comprehensive review of employer job opportunities from a large selection of online job sites, climbed by 7 per cent to 125 in April, from 117 in March.

“The April rise in Monster Employment Index India is a positive sign as employers continue to expand hiring efforts at the beginning of the second quarter,” Monster Worldwide managing director (India, Middle East and Southeast Asia) Sanjay Modi told reporters here.

With this, the online employment availability in healthcare, bio technology, life science and pharmaceuticals witnessed its largest monthly rise. Overall, job opportunities rose in 18 of the 27 industry sectors tracked in the survey.

Healthcare led the rise with a 29-point gain in April, indicating a relatively high level of online recruiting in support of scientific research and development activity.

The banking, finance and IT sectors also edged higher in April. Consumer-driven sectors, such as production and manufacturing, automotive, home appliances and real estate, witnessed strong growth over a three-month period.

In the IT industry, the online job demand increased by 51 per cent from January levels. Meanwhile, education was the only industry to grow month-over-month, over a six-month period.

“With other indicators, such as business confidence, improving and most industries and occupational categories in the index registering recent positive trends, we hope to see continued improvement in the future,” Modi added.

Online job demand rose at all the 13 cities monitored by the index in April, with Kochi, Coimbatore and Ahmedabad registering the largest jumps.

Among major metropolitan areas, brisk hiring activity was witnessed in Mumbai.

Delhi-NCR and Bangalore grew by 5 per cent over March levels, though hiring activity in Bangalore was relatively restrained compared to the previous month, the study said.

During April, online recruitment activity rose in 13 of the 14 occupational groups tracked, with online job demand for healthcare and engineering/production professionals witnessing the greatest monthly increase.

Keywords: India recruitment, online recruitment, healthcare

[induzcreed]

Formidable Srilankan cricket player Mahela Jayawardane likely to be appointed as Captain of the city based Kerala IPL team. The team management also seek availing the services of former Australian captain Steve Waugh as the Team Coach. Flamboyant Kerala pace bowler S.Sreesanth would be another attraction promised.

Earlier the team owners RSW consortium & Kerala Cricket Association announced Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Kochi as their home ground for the team's maiden outing slated for the IPL season 4 in the year 2011.

http://sports.mathrubhumi.com/story.php?id=100177

[sakrishna]

Originally Posted by induzcreed

Formidable Srilankan cricket player Mahela Jayawardane likely to be appointed as Captain of the city based Kerala IPL team. The team management also seek availing the services of former Australian captain Steve Waugh as the Team Coach. Flamboyant Kerala pace bowler S.Sreesanth would be another attraction promised.

Earlier the team owners RSW consortium & Kerala Cricket Association announced Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Kochi as their home ground for the team's maiden outing slated for the IPL season 4 in the year 2011.

http://sports.mathrubhumi.com/story.php?id=100177

[induzcreed]

I think the team really miss a political mentor in north kerala. Otherwise Calicut would have been a strong contender for alternative venue, very naturally.. above all political goof ups.

[Kiddu]

I Agree with induzcreed.
Even Trivandrum lacks a political mentor.
If ShashiTharoor sir wouldn't have been there,even Trivandrum wouldn't have got a chance to host IPL matches

[sakrishna]

Originally Posted by induzcreed

I think the team really miss a political mentor in north kerala. Otherwise Calicut would have been a strong contender for alternative venue, very naturally.. above all political goof ups.

Hi. I didn't get you. Who's this fake IPL player?

[induzcreed]

Originally Posted by sakrishna

Hi. I didn't get you. Who's this fake IPL player?

"which came first, the chicken or egg?"