India and France ink pact to reduce pollution in Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad

India and France signed an implementation agreement on ‘Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme in the presence of Minister of State (Independent charge), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri and Alexander Ziegler, Ambassador of France in India. The agreement was signed by Mukund Kumar Sinha, OSD and ex-Officio Joint Secretary, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs for India while Regional Director, Agence Française de Developpement (AfD), Nicolas Fornage, signed the agreement on behalf of AfD.

The Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme is part of an international initiative supported by the French and the German Governments. The programme was launched at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) meeting in December, 2015. Based on a proposal made by AFD in 2015, the European Union has agreed to provide funds of 3.5 million euro through the AFD to contribute to specific investments and technical assistance components within the Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme in India.

The MYC aims at supporting three pilot cities – Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad – in efforts to reduce their Green House Gas (GHG) emissions related to urban transport by implementing urban mobility plans at local level and to help India at national level to improve their sustainable transport policy.

The three pilot cities selected under the programme as well as MoHUA will benefit from the technical assistance activities. The main components of the proposed assistance include:

• Support planning and implementation of sustainable urban transport projects.
• Support to strengthening institutional capacity for regulating, steering and planning urban mobility.
• Learning and exchange formats with other cities across India for exchanges on best practices.

The details of the project activities will be worked out by AFD in consultation with MoHUA and the three partner cities including institutions such as the respective Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for Smart Cities, the municipal corporations and any transport authority or transport related SPV.