page_title: Willingdon Island
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Willingdon Island / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: മലയാളം: വെല്ലിങ്ടൺ ദ്വീപിലെ താജ് മലബാർ ഹോട്ടലിൽ നിന്ന് കൊച്ചി നഗരത്തിലേക്കുള്ള വീക്ഷണം
context_page_description: Willingdon Island is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala. Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Lake of Kochi, filling in dredged soil around a previously existing, but tiny, natural island. Willingdon Island is significant as the home for the Port of Kochi, as well as the Kochi Naval Base of the Indian Navy, Plant Quarantine station, Custom House Cochin and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
  The island is also home for other establishments associated with the port, namely, the Office of the Cochin Port Trust, the Customs Office, and more than two dozen export-import offices, warehouses, a few hotels and business centers.
context_section_description: The island was created during the construction of modern port in 1936, with the soil dredged out while deepening the Vembanad Lake to accommodate the new port. It was named after The 1st Earl of Willingdon, the Viceroy of India at the time, who commissioned the project. Robert Bristow, the chief protagonist and engineer for the project, owned the first building on the island.
  The first liner, which belonged to the Bibby Line, arrived at the island on 9 March 1935. A port hostel, called Malabar Hotel, was built for passengers who wished to rest on the island.
  All the pre-planned basic port structure was completed in 1939, just in time for the Second World War. A deep wharf, a rail bridge and a road bridge to the mainland provided valuable infrastructure for the local war effort. A naval works was also constructed on the adjacent Venduruthy Island to the south, where, by the end of the war, they were busily constructing landing craft for the presumed invasion of Japan. In 1940 a passenger jetty and customs house were built adjoining the hotel, together with a passenger platform and rail siding.
caption: View from Vivanta by Taj - Malabar Hotel in Willingdon Island.
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