Germany offers Rs 720 crore loan to build climate-resilient infra

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Germany has offered a loan of Rs 720 crore (90 million euro) at a nominal interest rate for a 'climate-resilient' reconstruction of transport infrastructure in the flood-hit areas in the state.


German ambassador Martin Ney, said the loan would be provided by German Development Bank KfW and discussion in this regard were already held with Union ministers.

Technical grant of Rs 24 crore (3 million euro) will also be provided for offering international expertise to the public works department (PWD) in climate resilient infrastructure planning to reconstruct roads and bridges.

The aim is to rebuild roads and bridges in such a manner that it would be able to withstand calamities in future, the ambassador said.

Germany, he said, has experience in providing technical expertise on reconstruction of disaster-hit infrastructure since the country had tackled situations of flooding.

"The next step would be project appraisal and signing of loan agreement between KfW and the state government," he said.

Germany will also grant Rs 940 crore (117 million euro) for Kochi's 'Water Metro' project. The project involves five identified routes connecting 41 boat piers/jetties across10 island communities (about 500,000 inhabitants) with a 76km route network. It will cater to the demand of about 1,00,000 passengers daily. The 'Water Metro' will be fully operational by 2020, he added.

On Indo-German development co-operation, Ney said Germany has asway supported India in matters of development and India has responded well to German initiatives.

On projects involving German cooperation with Kerala in the field of Energy, he said the study on floating solar sites in Kerala (Karapuzha Reservoir and Malamphuza Dam) is in its final stage and the results will be available soon.

KfW will implement the Rs 40 crore project on 'watershed development for rehabilitation of degraded soils and climate change adaption'. The project is part of German Initiative 'One World, No Hunger'. It will reduce the vulnerability of small-scale farmers to climate change in selected 43 watersheds through stabilization, enhancement and sustainable use of soil and water resources, he said.

Earlier in the day, German ambassador called on state governor P Sathasivam at Raj Bhavan, and conveyed him about the Germany's proposed aid.