The cruise vessel, M V Aquamarine, initially operates services to Maldives and Colombo.

M V Aquamarine is the first international cruise ship to operate service from a port in India.

The cruise service from Kochi offers “excellent Indo-European hospitality to Indian and international tourists,” a statement from the Mediterranean-based Louis Cruises said.

Louis Cruises, one of the world’s biggest cruise operators, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cochin Port Trust for launching the cruise service, which was inaugurated by India’s Minister for Tourism Kumari Selja.

The cruise service has been started the Kochi-Maldives-Kochi, and Kochi-Colombo-Kochi to services mainly to attract the rather well-to-do Indian middle class.

Kochi is the first non-European base for Louis Cruises, which has a fleet of fleet of 12 ships, according to Oneil Khosa, managing director of Louis Cruises India.

M V Aquamarine is also the first cruise liner that targets the Indian tourism sector – with tour packages starting from Rs 5,000 per person per day for a 3-night tour. The rates will go up to Rs 90,000 for the Royal Suite.

Launching the Louis Cruises’ service from Kochi, Tourism Minister Kumari Selja said that the cruise company has “rightly identified” Cochin Port, which has successfully handled events like the Volvo Ocean Race India Stopover in December 2008.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Report on worldwide cruise shipping activities, Kumari Selja said, the demand for cruise reached about 10 million trips in 2000. Of this, North America accounted for nearly two-thirds of the global demand.

A study commissioned by the India’s Ministry of Tourism on ‘Cruise Tourism Potential and Strategy’ has shown that India’s cruise tourism potential “revolved around the basic fact that India is an enchanting, historical and beautiful destination,” the minister said.

The Kochi Metro project will be a joint venture between the Kerala state government and the Central government.

“The project will be on similar lines to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. It will be a joint venture between the state and the centre,” VS Achuthanandan was quoted as saying after the weekly cabinet meeting.

Chief minister of Kerala, Mr. V S Achuthanandan, said that an amount of Rs 50 lakhs has already been sanctioned for the Kochi Metro project. To facilitate the execution of the project, an exclusive office will soon opened soon in Kochi itself.

The approval was fast tracked after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in as a result of CPM’s assertion that the Planning Commission has refused to approve of the project. The CPM accused the Planning Commission of wanting a private party to be brought into the Kochi Metro project on a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) model, like the Hyderabad Metro project.

In a statement, the CPM said that “the Hyderabad Metro project and the way the Planning Commission pushed it is a prime example of how India’s economic policy establishment is promoting private capital even at the cost of public interest. The Planning Commission has been trying to impose the Hyderabad Metro model on to Kerala, which is a prime example of crony capitalism.”

Manmohan Singh cleared the Kochi Metro project after studying the funding flowchart provided by the Kerala state government.

The Kochi Metro project will cover a 26-Km stretch between Thiruvananthapuram and Aluva. The stretch is supposed to cover Edapally, Palarivattom, Kaloor, MG Road, Ernakulam Junction railway station, SA Road and Vyttila to reach Tripunithura, while avoiding major flyovers like the Ernakulam Town railway flyover.

As per the Kochi Metro project plans, the Metro trains will run every five minutes at peak time, and eight minutes in the non-peak period. Smart Cards and contactless tokens will be introduced to control entry and exit to the stations.

The coaches of the Kochi Metro trains will not be as big as the Delhi trains, with each train carrying four coaches. The Kerala Metro trains have been designed to carry upto 3.5 lakh commuters daily by 2011.

The Kochi project is expected to be over within a span of 3 years of its start. Law Minister M Vijayakumar has been appointed to supervise the execution phase of the project.