AFCONS Infrastructure to construct Kochi metro’s Kakkanad extension viaduct

The contract to construct the Kochi metro’s 11.20-km viaduct for its Kakkanad extension (christened Pink Line) has been awarded to AFCONS Infrastructure.

The firm that quoted ₹1,141 crore for the work had emerged the lowest bidder and the sole technically qualified bidder as tenders were opened in March to construct the metro’s second-phase extension that would take off from JLN Stadium and end at Infopark in Kakkanad. It had built the trio of Goshree bridges that linked Kochi city with Goshree islands, a decade and a half ago. Official sources attributed the delay in finalising the contract to getting concurrence from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that had offered a soft loan for the metro extension that is estimated to cost ₹1,957 crore.

According to the contract, the viaduct ought to be readied in 600 days, while signals, telecommunication systems, rails, and allied infrastructure atop it ought to be readied in another six months. The elevated viaduct would have a pair of tracks and 10 stations. The contract to build their entry/exit would be awarded in the coming months. Aimed at reining in the cost of the Pink Line and to ensure its time-bound commissioning, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) had decided to construct smaller stations than in the 27-km Aluva-Pettah Blue Line, where considerable commercial space remained unoccupied.

The stations have been envisaged at Palarivattom, Alinchuvadu, Chembumukku, Vazhakkala, Padamukal, Collectorate Junction, Cochin Special Economic Zone, Chittethukara, Kinfra, and Infopark.

Metro sources said the timelines of the project — from test-piling to commissioning of the viaduct — would be announced on June 28. KMRL had said that the contracting firm would be incentivised, if it completed the work ahead of schedule. As per the plan, a pair of 60-metre-long open-web steel structures similar to the one near S.N. Junction at Thripunithura would be built where the metro viaduct crossed the national highway bypass at Palarivattom and in front of St. Martin’s Church from where the metro extension will turn eastward towards Palarivattom.