Critical analysis of water transport as a service in the city of Thiruvananthapuram Kerala

Abstract

Thiruvananthapuram of the erstwhile Travancore was once linked to Hosdurg in North Malabar by an inland waterway networked with canals. The 560-km Travancore-Shoranur waterway which was constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries was used for passenger and goods traffic. But excessive siltation and pollution have rendered long stretches of the channel useless. An amount of R150 crore has already been sanctioned from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) the navigational and tourism potential offered by inland waterways in the city of Thiruvananthapuram is yet to be explored In the city of Thiruvananthapuram since a long time not much infrastructure developments in the field of transportation is observed in the city. Many investments of mass rapid transportation like light rail system and BRTS are proposed in the city but still it has not yet been implemented. The city in the existing condition is highly dense and has streets widths of limited size as the historical importance of the city ispreserved. As a result the provision of transport infrastructure like high speed metro can prove to be unsuccessful moreover impractical in the city, so comes the need to plan the existing resources in the city judiciously. The city is blessed with a wide range of water bodies which were used for the purpose of navigation in the ancient times, which by the passage of time have lost its glory and have become unfit for the purpose of navigation. So there is a huge need to improve the quality of the navigation channels in the city and to revive its past glory. As the authorities have proposed for the revival of the existing water channels like parvathy puthanar canal in the study area and also fund allocations are done for the purpose so comes the need to understand and study the navigability of these canals and whether water transportation service will be successful in the region. The study shall be based on the proposed routes in the area and research shall be conducted on understanding its viability among the users in the study area The methodology adopted in the research shall be divided in to four stages. In the stage 1 background of the study will be conducted with the formulation of aim and objectives, scope and limitation of the research. A detailed research statement shall be devised and the research gap and the need of the study shall ne worked upon. The study area shall also be briefly presented in the first stage, depicting the criteria’s chosen for the site selection. In stage second various literatures consisting of existing researches and official documents and studies shall be reviews and analysed to understand the existing research in the market on the particular subject and it shall also help in understanding the base of the research and identifying the gaps that need to be worked on. The literature study shall help in keeping a keen understanding of the problem and shall help in creating a foundation to the research. In the third stage the data shall be collected for the purpose of analysis from various sources. The existing available data from the secondary sources shall be collected from official government documents, and open source websites. The data gaps shall be identified which shall be collected from the identified stakeholders in personal meetings and telephonic interviews. After the data collection stage the data processing stage will come where the collected data shall be analysed for the correctness and reliability. The data cleaning shall be done in order to get the adequate amount of clean data which shall give the best results and also the most appropriate results during the analysis stages. After the data processing stage will come the data analysis stage where the collected and processed data shall be analysed quantitatively and qualitatively using various methods and tools of statistics and other technical methods. In the final stage the inferences and observations from the study conducted shall be devised. The inferences shall help in formulation of proposals and recommendations which shall also be the final outcome of the research. And existing condition of water transport will be analysed in the city firstly with a brief study of the history of water transport in the city. The demand analysis of water transport in the city in the present scenario will be analysed followed by studying the existing routes available. At present the side of the city is accessed will be studied in the further part. With the end of the research we will be able to identify some key aspects and scenario of water transport infrastructure in the city. Firstly the potential canals for Inland water transport in the city will be analysed. Usage of water transport services in the study area will be studied upon and finally the scope of integration of different modes of public transport will be looked upon. The research shall help the policy makers to understand the viability of the water transport services in the city and whether technological interventions like water metro services can be proposed in the coming future. The research shall also give an idea of the scenario of freight transportation through water channels in the study area. The policy makers and authorities will have a clear understanding of the forecasted viability of the water transport infrastructure in the area. The research shall also help in understanding the need of a city in terms of transportation considering its targeted users and shall help in understanding the investments that need to be focused upon in the sector of transportation in the study area.