http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-03/kochi/32523280_1_metro-rail-projects-city-centre-marine-drive
*Kochi does not require metro: Kuldip Singh * TNN Jul 3, 2012, 03.44AM IST Tags: Saket District Centre| Greater Cochin Development Authority| GCDA KOCHI: Kuldip Singh, the original architect of the Marine Drive development project, may hail from New Delhi, which has set the benchmark for metro rail projects in the country. But he sure does not share Kochi's enthusiasm for the metro, which he feels the city can do without and claims would increase congestion! Coming from someone who is into urban planning, it may come as a surprise, but Singh is also not impressed by the Delhi metro, which caught the country's imagination and is being replicated in major cities. "I have personally opposed elevated metros in Delhi, Bangalore and the proposed ones in Hyderabad and Pune. The metro project as conceived in Kochi will degrade the central area of the city and the M G Road stretch. It can turn destructive for the city," he said in an interview with TOI, instead calling for an underground metro system for Kochi. For someone, who can't stand elevated metros, Singh gave a surprise again and proved to be a man of contradictions by claiming that he had provided consultancy for the Delhi and Bangalore metros! "I provided consultancy service for the Delhi and Bangalore metro rail projects in design and architecture," he said. But then Singh is very hard to please. He is not happy with the first phase of development of the 1.5 km Marine Drive stretch which he conceived, and feels it could have been carried out in a better way if Greater Cochin Development Authority ( GCDA) had full control over the project. "When the project was executed 35 years ago, there were several constraints including financial, environmental and administrative, before the executing agency. And due to all these constraints it was not possible to enforce detailed control over the execution of the project," said Singh, claiming that all environmental issues were addressed during the execution of the project. Expressing his displeasure over the maintenance of the waterfront, which is a popular hangout for city residents, he said that greater attention needs to be paid for the walkway. "The maintenance of open space, which is an important asset for the city, in Marine Drive should be given utmost importance. Despite the availability of open space, it has not been used much," he said. Singh has to his credit New Delhi-based projects such as City Centre and Saket District Centre. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Citizens' Action Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/citizens-action-forum?hl=en?hl=en New members are moderated. To be able to post mails to the group immediately on registration, please send your profile and area of interest to this email ID <[email protected]> -- "[It is not] possible to distinguish between 'numerical' and 'nonnumerical' algorithms, as if numbers were somehow different from other kinds of precise information." - Donald Knuth -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
