The Metro Round Table organised by CPPR along with Kerala Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Cochin on January 6th was attended by political leaders, bureaucrats, urban experts, industry representatives and civil society organisations. The forum actively discussed about the viability of Metro Rail in Cochin, stage of progress and future aspects. Mr. Tom Jose IAS, Chairman of Kochi Metro Rail Corporation stressed on the importance and urgent need for  metro rail in Cochin City. Speakers like Mr. Sohan, Councillor of Cochin Muncipal Corporation expressed concerns over the viability of the project invited attention to alternate means of public transport available in Cochin city.  D. Dhanuraj stressed on urban mobility and mentioned  that attention should  be given to parking spaces  and on how commuters would travel from home, office or shop to the nearest metro rail station. He expressed apprehensions on the viability and feasibility of metro rail in a city like Cochin. The present alignment cannot be expected to have a significant impact to solve the traffic woes in the city. He also remarked that this project may  dent the public finance of the State and can become a white elephant if the issues of alignment, feeder systems, intermodal stations along the route etc are not considered before the start of the work

Others who spoke on the occasion include Mr. T. Elangovan,   Scientist at the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre,  Mr. Gopinath Panagad, Former director, Kerala State Literacy Mission and  K.N. Marzook, President, Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Insdustry. Senior journalist K. M Roy moderated the session.

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