KOCHI: German Ambassador Walter J Lindner on Friday took part in a bicycle rally held by a German organisation in association with the Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the city and inspected some development projects.
During his stay in the city, Lindner met Mayor Anil Kumar who aims to transform Kochi into India’s cycling and active street capital.
The German ambassador participated in the event named as “Cycle with Kochi” held by German organization GIZ and the Kochi Municipal Corporation, the German embassy in New Delhi informed The New Indian.
As a part of the initiative, female students of the high-schools and women from economically weaker families are being trained to ride bicycles. As many as 169 women underwent the training and about 180 female candidates will be trained in the future.
Smart city Kochi! “Kochi Ithile” signage system's touchscreen panels. They show location, landmarks & facilities! Wonderful hands-on initiative by SMART-Sustainable Urban Transport project of Kochi Municipal Corp and supported by Germany @ched_cochin, @WRIIndia & @BMZ_Bund. pic.twitter.com/etnqI0MNZZ
— Walter J. Lindner (@WalterJLindner) April 8, 2022
The German Ambassador also travelled in a hybrid electric Kochi Water Metro ferry on the Vyttila-Kakkanad route.
Lindner also visited Kochi Ithile wayfinding signage project that consists of 21 physical and three digital wayfinding signages along with a web application.
“The signages and application offer localised information for both tourists as well as citizens, through legible text and graphics. The project was jointly implemented under the leadership of the KMC, Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development, as well as the Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) in collaboration with TUMI partner World Resources Institute India (WRI) India and the Indo-German development cooperation project Integrated and Sustainable Urban Transport Systems for Smart Cities in India (SMART-SUT),” the German embassy stated.