History of Marine Drive

Marine drive is a picturesque promenade in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. Marine drive is also an economically thriving part of the city of Kochi. With several shopping malls, it is an important centre of shopping activity in the city of Kochi. The view of setting and rising sun over the sea mouth and the gentle breeze from the Vembanad Lake made marine drive an important tourist destination in Kochi.It stretches a 1.75 kms and starts from the High court junction and extends to the Rajendra Maidan. There are several boat jetties along its stretch and the walkway has three contemporary constructed bridges,The rainbow bridge, The Chinese fishing net bridge, and the Houseboat bridge. Ironic to its name , no vehicles are allowed in the walkway.

   In the 1980’s. ,GCDA(Greater Cochin Development Authority) started the Kochi marine drive project following the Mumbai marine drive and thus the whole of the present marine drive , part of the Kochi lake, west  of the Shanmugham road to the present marine walkway was claimed from the Kochi plan.Then plan of GCDA was to eventually construct a road on the western border of this island which would thus become a literal marine drive, but due to the enforcement of the coastal protection laws in India in the 1990’s , construction of road became impossible and that led the GCDA towards settling down with a marine walkway instead of an actual Marine  drive.In 1992,under the leadership of the GCDA chairman V Joseph Thomas , IPS, a beautification project of the walkway was established leading to the construction of the iconic bridges.

   There are lot of places lining the marine drive .The marine drive stretches from the Jankar jetty  the north to the Ernakulam boat jetty in the south . The adjoining areas are the public ground , skyline apartment, federal bank buildings,the GCDA shopping complex , The Kerala trade centre , Abad Bay pride mall, Pioneer towers, Hotel Taj gateway, Alliance residency, DD Samudra apartments and the Indira Priyadarshini children’s park.

  The public ground at the northern part of the marine drive is the preferred venue for major exhibitions and most important political meetings that mark major landmarks in Kerala’s political scene.