Monthly Archives: April 2015

Peace Boat spreads message of nuclear-free world

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The Kochi Municipal Corporation along with Mayors for Peace, an international organization working for global peace accorded a warm reception to the peace boat arrived in Kochi carrying survivors of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Hibakushas) in Japan. This was the 87th global voyage of the ship.

During the reception, a commemoration ceremony was organized to remember the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing which was led by Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry.

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In the absence of Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi, the representative read out his message for Kochi at the function. After the reception, the Hibakushas had an interaction with selected students from various schools in the City.

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

Inauguration of the Renovated Ernakulam Town Hall

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One of the major landmarks of the city, the Ernakulam Town Hall was renovated and re-opened by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala, which was given a face-lift spending around Rs 2.7 crores. Care was taken to retain the heritage structure while renovating the building, which has been hosting public functions since 1961.

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The old asbestos sheet on the roof gave way to GI sheets and gypsum panels. The floor was raised by one foot using Kota Stone, and the walls have been made acoustic compliant. As much as Rs 20 lakhs was spent to strengthen the structure, and Rs 1.30 crore for refurbishing the wall paneling and for the design. The Town Hall has been upgraded into a ‘smart’ Town Hall so as to meet the expectations of the smart city that Kochi is fast becoming. The renovation was fast-tracked under the Kochi Municipal Corporation’s ‘Mission Kochi 15-8-15’ project, and was completed within six months.

MLA’s, Kochi Mayor Shri. Tony Chammany, GCDA Chairman Shri.N. Venugopal, The District Collector Shri. M.G.Rajamanickam IAS, Kochi Municipal Corporation Works Standing Committee Chairperson Smt. Soumini Jain, Development Standing Committee Chairman Shri. T.J.Vinod, Health Standing Committee Chairman Shri. T K Ashraf, ruling council members etc were present on the occasion.

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