‘’Metro Rail is bringing in a cultural change in the way people use common spaces and how they move around’’ said Mr.Alkesh Kumar Sharma IAS, MD-Kochi Metro Rail, and CEO of Cochin Smart City Mission Ltd. He was speaking at a talk “Kochi, The Business Hub of the Future” organized by World Trade Center Kochi in association with Indo Japan Chamber of Commerce Kerala (INJACK) on 22nd Jan 2020. He also urged the citizens to commit themselves to use of public transportation thereby reducing the number of private vehicles on the road. Responding to specific queries from the participants, Mr.Sharma IAS said KMRL is actively looking to provide more parking spaces in the city. He said that Smart City Mission is already in discussion with different agencies to set up Unified Command Centre which is expected to be fully functional by the end of this month. Maintenance of Panampilly Nagar walkway itself is costing KMRL over 7.5lakhs a month and they are looking for corporates/associations to come forward and take up this responsibility. He opined that World Trade Center, being the center point for all the intellectual developments, must initiate discussions to raise awareness on maintaining and use of public spaces. Mr. Sharma listed Economy, Human capital, Technology, Quality of life, Political engagement and City infrastructure as the major factors that indicate the competitiveness of Global Cities. He shared his vision of turning Kochi into another GIFT City which has – International financial services, presence of multinational corporations, trade services, excellent connectivity, vibrant cultural economy, infrastructure, and high liveability index. He also stressed the need for adopting new technologies like IoT and AI for bringing in quality lifestyle. Mr.Vivek George, Manager- WTC, Mr.Sajeev Menon, President-INJACK and Mr.Beby Mathew, Secretary, INJACK also spoke.