Shoes amidst the bottom of the Kochi Metro Viaduct will come alive with flowering plants. A contractor has been entrusted with the maintenance of these. This contractor has been entrusted with the work of preparing the vertical garden on the metro pillar.
Five years after the Metro became operational, most of the median has been eroded or covered with weeds and debris. As per the three-year agreement, the contractor may decide on a viable sponsorship fee for placing the advertising boards in the arbiters. Metro sources said that in return the contractor will have to plant shoe flower plants, maintain and water them.
Apart from ensuring green cover under the 25-km metro corridor, the plants are expected to help reduce the intensity of headlights of vehicles, thereby enhancing road safety.
Under an initiative launched in 2020, firms can sponsor intermediaries by paying ₹4,000 per median to Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL). “Around 70 firms came forward and planted saplings and lawns, but only a few were able to maintain them. This prompted us to come up with a new plan. Similarly, it was decided to entrust the work of preparing the vertical garden to the new contractor with the help of sponsors. This was because it was difficult for KMRL to earmark funds for the gardens, which required substantial investment on capital and maintenance,” said sources.
As a result, KMRL was unable to create a vertical garden on every six metro pillars as originally planned. Some vertical gardens at metro stations are also not in optimum condition.
The growth has not been well received by the firms, which used to go the extra mile and retain the intermediaries they sponsored. “The new measure has resulted in many of us uprooting the plants that we have carefully cultivated,” said one of them.