PRIME Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Kerala on Tuesday will dedicate India’s first water metro to the country as part of the government’s effort to boost the ease of living in the cities, officials said on Sunday.

The officials said that Narendra Modi-led government has made a conscious choice to avoid a one-size fits all approach while building infrastructure and connectivity. The improvement of metro connectivity across the nation serves as a prominent example of this strategy, as reported by the news agency ANI.

A unique urban mass transit system, Water Metro provides customers with the same ease and convenience of travel as a traditional metro system. It is very helpful in cities like Kochi.

PM Modi will travel to Madhya Pradesh in central India on April 24. Then he will go to Kerala in the south and will spend time in the Daman, a Union Territory in the West, before returning to Delhi.

Kochi Water Metro Project: All You Need To Know

- The water metro officials said the metro project will start with eight electric hybrid boats made by Cochin Shipyard Limited.

- The officials emphasised the need to utilize many inland water bodies that will help decongest existing transport networks and claimed the integrated metro system linking rail, road, and water will be a game changer for the state. It will be the most affordable way to travel around Kochi's picturesque backwaters.

- Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the water metro will bring a major revolution in the water sector in the state and will further provide a boost to the tourism industry. “The water metro will give a new impetus to transport and tourism sectors,” he said.

- The officials also mentioned the differences between the various forms of Metro systems. “Metro Lite is a low-cost Mass Rapid Transit System with the same experience and ease of travel in terms of comfort, convenience, safety, punctuality, reliability, and environmental friendliness as that of the conventional metro system," the officials said, as quoted by ANI.

- “Metro Lite costs 40 per cent of a conventional metro system. It is being planned in cities such as Jammu, Srinagar and Gorakhpur,” officials further said.

- Metro Neo is being planned in Maharashtra’s Nasik. “Metro Neo has rubber tyred electric coaches powered by overhead traction system running on a road slab with exclusive right of way, with the same experience and ease of travel in terms of comfort, convenience, safety, punctuality, reliability and environment friendliness as that of the conventional metro system," the officials added.

(With Agency Inputs)