was , which included costs for land acquisition and construction. Kadakampally Surendran who is the current Minister for Devaswom, Tourism and Co-Operation declared that the inauguration of Kochi Metro Train service is expected to occur on 30 May 2017 Pachalam railway over bridge On 21 February 2014, the Kerala High Court expressed its displeasure over the failure of the Kochi Corporation to finalise the final alignment of the proposed rail over bridge (ROB) at Pachalam submitted by the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A.M. Shafeeque directed the corporation to place on record the final alignment of the ROB by 2 April 2014. The Bench observed that the civic body had "not moved an inch", after the discussion on the alignment submitted by the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation in 2011. The Pachalam RoB was approved in-principle by the Kochi Corporation on 10 February 2014. The RoB received approval from the State Cabinet on 26 February. The 2-lane, 10-metre wide RoB is estimated to cost and will be constructed by the DMRC. About 52 cents of land will be acquired for the project. The foundation stone for the project was laid on 4 March, and construction was expected to complete in 6 months. It was inaugurated on 11 January 2016. Cherian Varkey Construction Company was the contractor for the project. Shifting Vyttila station Based on suggestions from Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi, Kochi Metro Rail Limited decided to shift Vyttila station to Vyttila Mobility Hub to follow the guidelines of the Ministry of Urban Development so that the station could also provide bus and water transport. Long-distance buses operate out of Vyttila hub and the hub authorities are planning to build a new boat jetty there as the part of their second phase of development. Thus, the Kochi metro project became the first metro in the country which connects rail, road and water transport facilities. Land acquisition The total amount of land required for the project is 40.409 hectares. The total land required for all stations is 9.3941 hectares, including area required for parking lots. Aluva, Pettah, Kalamassery, Edappally and Kaloor stations will have larger parking areas requiring about 2.7869 hectares of land. The coach depot at Muttom requires 23.605 hectares of land, higher than the originally estimated 17 hectares. Approximately, 4.6 hectares of land will be required for