Kochi: German aid for infra projects

KOCHI: Kochi city will get technical and probable financial support from Germany for infrastructure development projects in various sectors. The support of German Agency for International Cooperation – GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) will be a major boost for the city projects in basic sectors like water supply and storm water drainage, liquid waste management, solid waste management, affordable/rental housing and other sectors such as urban planning and governance, gender, and climate change.

Talking to DC, Mayor Soumini Jain said that technical support from an expert agency like GIZ will help the city administration to tackle issues like climate change which is adversely impacting even the regular civil works. “Unexpected changes in monsoon pattern have hit the annual road and drainage maintenance works. Changes in climate have to be taken care of while preparing development plans. GIZ can help the civic body to prepare feasible project proposals,” she said.

The Mayor has urged GIZ officials to prepare a climate master plan for the city based on which projects have to be prepared.

According to the Mayor, the major problem with city development project proposals and studies is that they often get stuck in implementation phase due to lack of proper planning. 

“Though the city has no dearth of development proposals, most of them remain in papers. GIZ has offered technical assistance in preparing DPR of feasible projects. We don’t have a vision even for next 10 years and have only short-term project plans. Fast pace of development in the city has to be considered while preparing a master plan,” she added.

Though GIZ has not yet offered financial support, the agency might provide funds in later stage. As part of the German support, Sahodaran Ayyappan Road will be developed as a model road.

A multi-stakeholder planning workshop has been organised on Friday to discuss the three GIZ supported urban projects. The objective of the workshop was to understand partners’ expectations, achieve a joint understanding of the projects’ components and activities with key stakeholders from state and city level, identify sector-wise priority areas for project support and discuss steps for project implementation. The workshop, inaugurated the Mayor, was attended by officials from various government departments and development agencies.