A seven-member delegation from German Embassy and German Development Bank KfW arrived here on Friday for an appraisal-cum-site visit prior to sanctioning Rs. 624-crore loan to modernise water transport system in the Greater Kochi region.
They had a brief meeting with officials of the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) in the morning, where the metro agency made a presentation on the proposed project.
By afternoon, they visited the boat terminal at Vyttila Mobility Hub, which would play a key role in ensuring integration of inter-modal connectivity among metro rail, bus and passenger ferries.
Buses have been calling at the bus terminal here for over two years, while the ferry to Kakkanad operates from the boat terminal on the waterfront.
Work on a metro station is under way on the premises and it will be linked with the bus terminal through a corridor. A halt station proposed for trains at adjacent Ponnurunni is yet to be realised, since Railway is not keen on it at present.
The KfW had offered to provide a long-term loan at less than 2 per cent interest rate, the rate at which French development assistance agency AFD offered to provide Rs 1500-crore loan to Kochi Metro. The AFD had evinced interest in funding the water transport project too.
The KfW would take a decision on the loan after its final appraisal mission in August, following which the approval of its director board would be sought, metro sources said.
The German team members who came here were Wolfram Klein, Head of South Asia Division, BMZ (German Ministry of Economic and Development Cooperation); David Tantow, Deputy Head of South Asia Division, BMZ; Heiko Warnken, Head of Economic and Development Cooperation, German Embassy; Yasmin Tawfik, Regional Manager of KfW; Nicolai Tust, Country Manager; Andreas Thermann, Deputy Director and Stefan Hediger, Head – Energy Sector.
They expressed satisfaction over the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the waterway project and other preparations. The DPR for the project is awaiting approval of the State government.
