Helping Kochi sustainably restructure its urban mobility

The road approaching Bronkhorstspruit’s Bio2Watt’s biogas plant is lined with dozens of beef cattle farms on both sides. Some 25,000 cows roam freely in large fenced fields, some eating grass, others eating grains. The four digesters standing tall at the end of the road use cow manure to produce biogas - green energy.

“We choose this site because of its proximity to a large commercial feed lot which provides us with 40,000 tons of cow manure per year. The manure is used to feed our four digesters to produce biogas”, says Sean Thomas, managing director of Bio2Watt. 

The first phase of the project led to the construction of a light metro with a 25.6 km-long viaduct route, including 22 stations. Today, 18 km are already operational. In 2016, AFD provided a second funding for the extension of the network and its integration into the urban landscape through the development of open spaces, walkways and cycle-tracks.

In 2020, AFD and KMRL signed an agreement to fund the second phase of this project, focussing on facilitating the movement of pedestrians and cyclists around the metro stations, on arterial roads, as well as on junctions located on the metro corridor

Kochi's network is unique in many ways, including how it has empowered women, the pace with which the project was implemented, as well as the cost savings, green initiatives and digital solutions it incorporates.

KMRL has worked continuously to seamlessly connect the metro to other modes of transport in the city, thereby completely transforming mobility in the city.

In the near future, users will be able to use a single ticket for their entire trip in the city, making their travelling even more efficient.

• By 2022, nearly 500,000 people are expected to use the metro every day
• Kochi metro has hired an impressive 774 women. Of these, 600 women come from poor families of Kerala
• By opening up the growing economic centres, the economic attractiveness of the city will grow