The Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the implementation of the “Capacity Building for Low Carbon and Climate Resilient City Development in India project” (CapaCITIES). The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The MoU was signed on 29.09.2016 by Mr. Banchhanidhi Pani, Commissioner, RMC, and Mr. Emani Kumar, Executive Director, ICLEI South Asia, on behalf of the consortium of organisations from Switzerland and India mandated to implement the project. The MoU was signed the in presence of Dr. Harshitaben Shah, Deputy Mayor, Rajkot; Mr. Pushkarbhai Patel, Chairman Standing Committee, RMC; Mr. Arvind Raiyani, Leader of Ruling Party in RMC; and Dr. Shirish Sinha, Deputy Director of Cooperation, SDC.
Speaking at the event, the Commissioner thanked SDC for supporting the city through the CapaCITIES project and said that “as Rajkot is emerging as an important urban centre in the region, this project will assist in making it a smart city”. He appreciated the focus of the project on sustainable transport, water and energy efficiency in buildings. According to Dr. Sinha “the signing of this MoU between the RMC and our implementing agency is an important milestone and further strengthens the partnership with Rajkot towards a sustainable city development”.
In the second part of the event, SDC’s Indo-Swiss Building Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP) presented practical recommendations on integrating energy efficiency measures in the construction of an upcoming low cost housing project for slum rehabilitation in Rajkot (Smart Ghar 3). The experts came to the conclusion that is possible to build the low cost housings in such a way that they are as thermally comfortable as an air-conditioned building, without actually using any air-conditioning. The recommendations were made on the basis of a two-day integrated design workshop conducted by Swiss and Indian architects and engineers in partnership with the RMC Housing Cell and the builder for the Smart Ghar 3 project.
The CapaCITIES project aims to strengthen the capacities of Indian cities to identify, plan and implement measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for enhancing resilience to climate change in an integrated manner. The goal of the project is to ensure that a lower greenhouse gas emissions growth path is achieved and resilience to climate change is increased in select Indian cities. The implementation phase of the project will focus on providing technical assistance for mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation into development policies at the city level, support the city authorities in the formulation and implementation of integrated action plans and measures across priority sectors and share experiences with other cities in developing and emerging countries. The project will also support implementation of quick-win pilot projects, which have the potential for scaling-up. The CapaCITIES project will be implemented by a consortium of South Pole Group, econcept and ICLEI South Asia. Coimbatore, Rajkot, Siliguri and Udaipur were selected a partner cities for the project.
For more information, contact: Dr. Shirish Sinha, Deputy Director of Cooperation, SDC, New Delhi, Phone: +91 11 4995 9570 Ext. 800893
