01/10/2006

Mayor of Bhubaneswar Mr. Mihir Kumar Mohanty visited Barcelona and Freiburg from 19-26 September 2006

As part of the “Local Renewables Model Communities Network” project Mr. Mihir Kumar Mohanty, Mayor, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation visited the cities of Barcelona and Freiburg to visualize renewables and energy efficiency at a local level. The overall purpose of the visit was to provide an international exposure to the Indian partners of the LR project, where they can see and learn from the activities of the local governments that have done commendable work in the field of Renewables.

It is intended that this would inspire the Indian partners to bring back home some of the ideas and successful strategies adopted by the local governments of Barcelona and Freiburg, and implement them in their cities to achieve the objectives of the Local Renewables project.

The visit was also meant to strengthen the international network of established Model Communities in Europe and to explore opportunities of expanding this network. Visit to Barcelona involved meeting with the city officials, visit to solar installations and meeting with Mrs. Imma Mayol, Deputy Mayor of Barcelona and the President of the Barcelona Energy Agency. The aim of the visit was to learn about the strategies adopted by the city to promote renewables, the positive impacts of these activities on the city and also the barriers in achieving this.

Mayor of Bhubaneswar Mr. Mohanty attended “EcoProcura 2006” conference on Sustainable Procurement held in Barcelona, from 20 to 22 September 2006. This gave an in-depth knowledge on about the activities of the local, regional, national governments and international bodies all over the world are taking to promote and implement sustainable procurement.

Mayor of Bhubaneswar Mr. Mohanty visited the city of Freiburg, which is a European partner and an important resource community for the project “Local Renewables Model Communities Network” to understand how the city has achieved number one position in the utilization of solar energy for the generation of heat and electricity. The visit included meeting with the city planners, visits to renewable energy projects in the region and a meeting with the Lord Mayor of Freiburg.