Category Archives: Homepage News

Principals from Cochin visit Sweden

As part of the ongoing Cochin-Kumla School Atlas Programme, the Principals of the selected schools Bhavan’s Girinagar and St. Teresa’s CGLPS School visited Kumla on August 24th, 2015. The programme initiated by the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development and ICLD ( International Centre for Local Democracy) aimed at discussing ecological balance, environmental protection and socio-cultural exchange among schools.

Mrs. Sunitha S, Principal Bhavan’s Girinagar and Sister Lucette , Principal St. Teresa’s CGLPS School were selected to travel to Kumla, Sweden.

Steel cutting for RO-RO vessels

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The ‘steel cutting’ for the two roll-on-roll-off vessels of the Kochi Municipal Corporation was held on August 1 at 11 a.m. at the Cochin Shipyard.

The two vessels, which can carry passengers as well as cars and trucks, have been named as RY 96 and RY 97. Prof. K.V. Thomas, MP cut the steel for RY 96 and Mayor Ton Ro-Ro Steel y Chammany cut the steel for the second vessel.

The vessels, to be built by the Cochin Shipyard, will be operated in the Kochi backwaters between Fort Kochi and High Court Junction reducing the travel time considerably. By road, it would require over an hour to cover the 20-km distance between these two points.

Workshop on Sustainable Transport Solutions for Cochin – March 25-27, 2015

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Held during 25 to 27 March 2015, Kochi, India, the three day workshop on sustainable transport solutions workshop gathered various stakeholders regarding urban transport in the city and international expert organizations to discuss on possible solutions that can resolve the overwhelmed transport demand. ap 2

Kochi has been selected as one of the take up city under Sharing Opportunities for Low carbon Urban transportation (SOLUTIONS) funded by European Commission implemented by Wuppertal institute with over 20 international transport research and expert partner organizations.

The three day interactions and workshop being organized by Cochin City Corporation and ICLEI – South Asia included

Interactions with various departments responsible for urban transport development in Kochi while building greater connections, exchange and engagement among city teams and expert group’s and serve as the key mechanism to deliver solutions exchange and learning.
Strengthening city governments agenda on improving the transport situation
Deliberations for a recommendations document being compiled under the project to be put forward to city government and various department proposals for improving urban transport.

Workshop on sustainable transport solutions included three days of brainstorming and interactive sessions with discussions on various issues that city is currently facing and proposals that are under way to resolve the same. On day 1, the expert team visited and interacted with city transport authorities and organizations, on day 2 a brainstorming and interactive discussion was organized and on day 3 the expert representatives shared their thoughts with city representative and stakeholders for future transport in the city of Cochin. Key representatives from the project visiting the city included:

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Dr Thierry Goger, Secretary General, FEHRL
Dr. Florian Kressler , AustriaTECH
Oliver Lah, Wuppartal Institute
Benjamin Schreck, BAST
Sameera Ananthapur, Clean Air Asia
Pawan Mulakutla, Ranjana Menon from Embarq India
Ashish Rao Ghorpade, Ranjith Parvathapuram from ICLEI – South Asia

2nd Indo – German Water Partnership Summit, 2014

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The 2nd Indo-German Water Partnership (GWP) Summit was organized by c-hed for Kochi Municipal Corporation in association with SCMS Group of Educational Institutions. The event was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala Shri. Oomen Chandy on 6th October 2014 at Cochin.

The one-day conference involved panel discussions on industry-academia partnership on solving water issues by leveraging technological advantages in both countries. Protection of local water bodies, monitoring of domestic water supply quality and industrial water and waste water treatment were also discussed during the sessions. The German water experts shared their presentations and held discussions and seminars to impart more knowledge about German approaches to the challenges of sustainable water management. They also discussed the challenges and opportunities of the Indian water sector, paying special attention to sustainable water resource management.

The GWP is an association of German Industries, Academicians and Technology Institutions that are engaged in providing technology solutions for water and waste water management.

AsianCitiesAdapt : Learning Exchange

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Twenty cities from all around South Asia came together in Cochin on October 30th, 2013 to learn from each other on the issue of adaptation to climate change at the AsianCitiesAdapt: Learning Exchange, co-organized by Kochi Municipal Corporation and ICLEI South Asia.

The workshop, that took place on 30th-31st October 2013, gathered an impressive line-up of high level local representatives from India, the Philippines, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal, who discussed solutions on how cities can adapt to climate change, together with climate experts and other practitioners from India, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Dignitaries included Mayor Maizan Ali Manik, Male city (Maldives); Mayor Zulfikar Ali, Mongla and Mayor Shamim Al Razi, Singra (Bangladesh) and Deputy Mayor Tikender S Panwar, from Shimla (India).

The workshop, a forerunner to the closure of the project “AsianCitiesAdapt – Impacts of Climate Change in Target Cities in India and the Philippines and Local Adaptation Strategies” – brought together science, policy and practice to help four cities in India (Howrah, Madurai,Vishakapatnam and Kochi) and four cities in the Philippines (Baguio, Dagupan, San Fernando, Tuguegarao) take the first steps towards developing an appropriate adaptation strategy.

The entire programme was coordinated by c-hed for the Kochi Municipal Corporation.

Visit of School Delegation from KUMLA as a part of School Atlas Program

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St1 As a part of the Municipal Partnership Program between the city of Cochin and city of Kumla (Sweden), a group of four member School Delegation from the Municipality of Kumla, Sweden visited the schools in the city. The Swedish delegation, consisting of teachers Lena Brostroem, Petra Eriksson, Joakim Gillman and Kumla City International Coordinator Ted Rylander, held discussions with the teachers and students of St. Teresa’s CGLPS and Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir (Girinagar). The principals of both the schools, Sister Lucette and Mrs.Nirmala Venkateswaran assisted the team in school.

The delegation has promised a slew of measures to ensure educational support for students in the city, including hosting a tour for selected students, sharing tools and techniques for educational support through video conference and measures to ease the learning pressure for students.

The last day of their program in Cochin, the delegation also met the Hon’ble Mayor along with Educational Standing Committee Chairman Thyagarajan, Works Standing Committee Chairman Soumini Jain, to share the findings.

The entire program is being coordinated by c-hed for the Kochi Municipal Corporation.

MOBILITY GRID WORKSHOP – Joining the Dots….

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The city of Cochin is witnessing the great shift towards a metro city with its infrastructure boom and transport projects. With the commencement of many major projects, the focus has shifted to providing seamless and sustainable accessibility and connectivity through integration of transport systems. The challenge lies in understanding the opportunities and constraints and visualizing the transport requirements to plan for better implementation.

In this regard a Mapping and Implementation Workshop was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Mayor Shri.Tony Chammany and organised by c-hed.The workshop debated on the major shortcomings in urban transport connectivity and involved the exercise of identifying areas with poor connectivity in the Central Business District area. As a result a grid was prepared led by Ms. Susan Zielinski, Managing Director, SMART, University of Michigan.

Participants in the workshop, including Kochi Municipal Corporation chairman, councilors, representative of residents associations and civic experts, attended the exercise of identifying the connectivity in the specified area.

Visit of Official Delegation from the City of Kumla (Sweden) as part of the Municipal Partnership Programme

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The city of Cochin and the city of Kumla(Sweden), has entered into a long-term self-sustaining relation through Municipal Partnership Program, as a result of the match making conference held in the city organized by ICLD, mayor speaks Swedish International Center for Local Democracy and Swedish Embassy. The city of Cochin had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Municipality of Kumla to co-operate in the fields of Sustainable Development in water and waste management, IT Development, Education with emphasis on School Exchange Program and Public Space Beautification.

As part of this association a five member delegation from Kumla, including their Mayor Katarina Hansson was in the city, as a part of the feasibility study for three-year long projects that can be carried out between Cochin and Kumla. During their stay in the city, they visited Water Treatment Plants at Aluva and Maradu, sewerage treatment plant at Elamkulam, Brahmapuram Solid Waste Treatment plant, Infopark and Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL).

The Municipality of Kumla has expressed their deep interest in the various investment opportunities in Cochin and also cooperate on the various sectors identified for mutual cooperation.

An Academic Session with students from Georgia University

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The c-hed, an academic institution is into collaborations and exchange programmes with many notable national and international universities.

The association with various universities and institutes across the world has led to collaborative research, academic support in terms of courses, seminars and developing academic programmes. Such partnerships has been facilitating the exchange of ideas and exposure to new experiences and outlook.

Lately in the series, an interactive academic session was held with the students from the University of Georgia. They were enlightened on the history, urban development, governance, planning activities and heritage of the city of Cochin.

Project on the “Impact of Plastic Debris on Marine and Human Health”

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Plastic pollution in marine eco-system has been causing health hazards and economic loss. This non-biodegradable haphazard is one of the major threats to the very existence of mankind on this planet.

The presence of plastic pollutants in the sea and backwaters of Cochin has been upsetting the marine eco-sytem and breeding grounds of a large number of economically important fish varieties.

c-hed has been coordinating various programmes and seminars to spread awareness among people about the ill-effects of plastic wastes on marine and human health. A project on the “Impact of Plastic Debris on Marine and Human Health” has been initiated by c-hed in association with Global Ocean, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam.