Kerala - Kochi   

Plan city's growth, say touring Cardiff city councillors

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Kochi city needs to plan its growth and development with a wider perspective, the representatives of the Cardiff City council have suggested.

The Cardiff city council members have been touring the city for the past few days as part of the city-to-city cooperation organised by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

A team of civic representatives from Cardiff had been visiting the city as part of the city-to-city cooperation organised by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

Rachel Jones, a team member, presented the areas of strength, weakness, opportunities and risks faced by the city at a special council meeting held on Wednesday. According to her, the factors such as the presence of a harbour, educated people, young population, commercial and industrial hub, decentralised planning process and heritage are some of the strong points of the city.

Weakness

Its weakness was in its dependence on State Government, paucity of funds, absence of environmental engineer, financial manager and bureaucratic system. The opportunities of the city were in factors such as private-public-partnership, projects such as International Container terminal, LNG project and Smart City and areas such as health tourism. The urban development programmes implemented as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Renewal Mission also threw open new avenues for the growth of the city, she observed.

Pollution of water bodies and increase of vehicular population were some of the risks faced by the city, she said. The Cardiff team was also accorded a reception at the council.

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