Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], September 16 : After Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the second phase of the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Extension on Monday, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze praised India's focus on environmentally friendly metro transport, citing the example of Ahmedabad's metro project.
"It is great that Ahmedabad is focusing on environmentally friendly metro transport," said Schulze.
Schulze met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Germany Pavilion during the 4th Global Renewable Energy Investor's Meet (RE-INVEST) 2024 on Monday. She also visited the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project inaugurated by PM Modi.
Svenja Schulze is on a three-day visit to Gujarat. She is representing Germany as a partner country at the investor conference dedicated to renewable energy. Schulze is being accompanied by a business delegation of some twenty representatives of the renewables sector.
"Part of this 600 million euro project was financed through a loan under German development cooperation. Electrification was done by German technology company Siemensm," as per the Germany Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development official statement.
Development Minister Schulze said, "India's cities are experiencing growth that is almost unparalleled in the world. If these cities focused exclusively on car transport, their congestion and smog problems would quickly become even more unbearable, and the entire world would be faced with even bigger climate problems."
"So it is great that Ahmedabad is focusing on environmentally friendly metro transport. This example of Indo-German cooperation benefits the environment and the people of India. However, it also benefits Germany, because our prosperity is based on other countries, too, investing in infrastructure and using some German technology in the process. Germany's development cooperation has been successful in paving the way for economic cooperation and sustainable development. This support is an investment that pays offfor India, for Germany and for the world," she added.
The new Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro line now offers climate-friendly, safe transportation between the two cities. It is projected that, initially, the line will serve 120,000 passengers per day, and that this number will rise to 330,000 over the next 30 years.
"The new metro line also benefits commuters from poorer neighbourhoods, who are often unable to afford their own car, and women, who now have a safe means of transport. It is expected that the use of the metro line will save 50,000 tonnes of CO2 a year," the statement added.
This metro line is one result of Indo-German cooperation. As part of this cooperation, the German Development Ministry (BMZ) provided a 100 million euro loan at favourable terms to India via KfW Development Bank in order to help finance the line. The project had a total volume of 611 million euros.
A German company, Siemens, was involved in the construction process, providing electrification technology.
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