Civic body, Greater Cochin Development Authority to seek central funding for projects.

City corporation and Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) will present select projects before Union urban development ministry (MoUD) to garner central financial aid. The civic body has chosen projects which have been included in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and have submitted a list to the Centre for approval. GCDA has listed out four projects before MoUD. Both agencies will present their respective projects before MoUD secretary Sudhir Krishna at a meeting recently.

Officials with the local body said that they would give priority to water transport, development of pedestrian zones, canal revitalization programmes, implementation of unified metropolitan transport authority (UMTA) and formation of its special purpose vehicle. 'The focus will be developing city roads and transport infrastructure. The civic body will put forward a demand to clear these projects under JNNURM scheme,' said a senior officer. Reluctant to reveal the details, mayor Tony Chammany said projects would be discussed on a priority basis.

Meanwhile, GCDA chairman N Venugopal said that they their list included the Rs. 200-crore project for developing Vaduthala-Varapuzha costal road, Rs. 45-crore sports complex at Manasserry, Rs. 6-crore skywalk at High Court Junction, Rs. 98-crore convention centre at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium and Rs. 15 crore underground parking centre at Ambedkar stadium.

TOI