The Kochi metro’s Thripunithura station. It is in the vicinity of the metro station and the railway station that the central bus terminal is envisaged.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
The annual Budget of the Thripunithura municipality has claimed that the long-pending central bus terminal project will turn a reality in 2026.
The Budget for the 2024-25 fiscal, presented by municipal vice chairman K.K. Pradeep Kumar, stated that the foundation stone for the project would be laid by June this year. The Budget has estimated an expense of around ₹30 crore for the construction of the bus terminal and for the acquisition of 5.5 acres close to the metro station for laying a 16-metre-wide metro rail road to Hill Palace Road.
Mr. Kumar said the civic body planned to seek loans from funding agencies to initiate the project. The State Budget has included proposals that would ease procedures for local bodies to seek external funding for land acquisition for developmental projects, he added.
The Opposition councillors belonging to the BJP, who participated in the Budget discussion, blamed the ruling front for repeating the old proposals in the Budget. The ruling front’s claim that the foundation stone for the bus terminal project would be laid soon was far from reality as the allocation of ₹30 crore was inadequate for land acquisition, which required around ₹82 crore, they said. UDF councillors who stayed away from the discussion, alleged that the Budget lacked vision and remained a repeat of the various proposals in the previous budgets.
The Budget has allocated ₹5 crore towards setting up a sewage treatment plant. The other projects included under waste management are procurement of five electric vehicles for waste collection and insurance with ₹1 lakh coverage for members of the Haritha Karma Sena.
