The year 2021 will be witnessing a grandiose infrastructural facelift of Kochi, the stupendous port city of Kerala. Kochi has undergone a massive transformation during the past decade, with the launch of Cochin International Airport, Cochin Shipyard, Infopark, Kochi Metro etc which has uplifted it from a tiny port city to a metropolitan urban city we see today. Enormous investment in the construction and expansion of roads and bridges has increased the pace of life in the city. 

With the inauguration of the Vytilla and Kundannor flyovers, the two major projects which Kochi has been anticipating for a long time; the city has kickstarted its infrastructural facelift of 2021. The Vytilla Kundanoor flyovers built under the supervision of  Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) are expected to reduce the traffic congestion at the busiest junctions of the city. With the completion of the Palarivattom flyover by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in the coming months, commutation through and within the city will become facile.

The first phase of Kochi Water Metro, a project introduced as an alternative public transport system to reduce traffic congestion within the city with minimal pollution is expected to be completed by mid-2021 under the supervision of Kochi Metro Rail Limited. Kochi will become the first city in the country to have an integrated road, metro rail and water transport system under one roof with the launch of this project. The Phase I extension of the Kochi Metro to Tripunithura is expected to be completed this year. 

Efforts to resolve the waterlogging and flooding in Kochi during monsoon season as a follow up to Operation Breakthrough is said to begin in March 2021. Several innovative projects such as rooftop solar panel projects and Intelligent Traffic Management System have been rolled out by Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CMRL). A walkway development project, an open-air theatre and renovation of Dutch Palace premises in the Fort Kochi area will also be carried out this year.

The Ernakulam Medical College Hospital was transformed earlier this year into a state-of-the-art healthcare hub that the state can be proud of. The commissioning of the GAIL pipeline in January by the Prime Minister marked a historical achievement as the city and the government had to tackle numerous hard knocks to make the project a reality. With the launch of numerous infrastructural and economically uplifting projects, Kochi is expected to become one of the leading metropolitan cities in the coming decade.