Kochi Rising

Welcome to Cochin. Queen of the Arabian Sea. One of the fastest developing cities in Asia. Apparently in the last few years, there has been a real boom of development in Kochi, and it is still continuing now, promising to bring Kochi on par with with any other metro in India.


Where it started?

Well I'm not too sure but some factors include the coming up of the Cochin International Airport in Nedumbassery around 8 years ago, which proved to be a monster killing for development activities in the area. The Vallarpadam container terminal was a sure push to trade. Cochin Port as such is a really busy place and trade was already booming here, maybe the strategic location was influential too. Infopark in Kakkanad was another one of the earlier victories for Kochi.

On the tourism side, GCDA has gradually taken up steps to meet the developing Metro cultural demands of Cochin. The Marine Drive is a sureshot timepass destination for visitors to the place, and GCDA has done quite some work on beautification of this very scenic area. Bay Pride Mall, Penta Menaka and the other shopping complexes in the area greatly complement the tourism scene as small-scale shopping destinations. Jewellery and fashion industry is competing in making outlets, with 2 really large outlets by Alukkas and Jayalakshmi coming up in the Marine drive- MG Road area.


Now some of the biggest development activities in Cochin are sure to convert it's face competely. The Lulu Shopping world in Kalamassery to come up in about 1-2 years covers several acres and has 8 Billion IN Rupees pouring into it and covers over 16 acres of land! It even includes an amusement park and a 5 star hotel! Housing projects and apartments all over Cochin are in fierce competition, with the Choice Paradise 40 storey apartment coming up in Thripunithura area promising to be the largest in South India when finished. Others include Aquacity in Aluva,Grand Mall, MetroOneMall, Kayaloram, Mir Emerald Towers, Oceanus Maple, Trinity Crown, Trinity Crest, Orchid meadows,Star Lagoon,Technopolis,Swapnil Regency and lots more(all thanks to Monster for the info and the pics).

Why we are not prepared..

1. Do we have the road infrastructure for this? Frankly speaking i think not.. even on a peaceful Sunday night at 11 pm the roads from Ekm South to Aluva may be held in traffic block for hours.The highway is full of bottlenecks and i dont know how Kochi roads can meet the demand of metro traffic. The Private Bus operators, ofcourse, still drive like they own the road, and this really creates enough traffic problems on the road.


2. Our Waste Disposal SUCKS!!!! The old joke goes, and still continues, that if u can smell the stink you have definitely reached Kochi. Demands for a proper disposal system have fallen on deaf ears. Not to forget the bad gutter system, that is definite to overflow in proper rainy conditions.


3. Are we Cochinites development minded enough? I say the culture is yet to adapt itself to embrace a metro lifestyle.


4. We have no night life at all. Life comes to standstill after 10 pm or so. Well, more or less :-).

5.Lots more tourist destinations,amusement parks,scenic locations and walkthroughs needed for people to make their Kochi trip worthwhile. After all, dude, how many times can u go to Veegaland?

Needless to say, its time for us Kochiites to come together and bring the Metro to Cochin.