Kelvia

Kelvia is the capital and largest city in Arola. The city center area has a total population of 755,642, while the entire capital district has a population of 1,390,554.

The city is served by Kelvia Kasala International Airport, located in the neighbouring suburb of Kasala.

Cityscape
Kelvia has mostly buildings of Georgian and Gothic architecture, while modern skyscrapers and facilities have more modernised designs.

Education
There are a total of 410 schools in Kelvia, 195 are elementary schools, 70 are middle schools, 60 are high schools and colleges and 115 are special education and international schools.

The University of Kelvia is located in the outskirts of the city, providing college education to Arolan and Finnish citizens to all walks of life. The university was formed in January 1921 during the British colonial era, which was originally intended for Arolan university students only. However, since Arola gained independence, it has invited Nordic students and has become a prestigious university in the Nordics.

Media
The Arolan National Television (ANT) is headquartered in Kelvia at its present headquarters at Television Circle, which was built in the late 1990s. Cable and satellite television provider A-Star is also headquartered here.

Roads
The busiest freeway in Arola, Arolan Freeway 9, crosses into the city center of Kelvia, providing connections to the busy area of the city from other provinces and towns. Arolan Freeway 14 serves as a bypass of Freeway 9 for motorists wanting to avoid the rush hour traffic in Kelvia while Arolan Freeway 15 runs from Freeway 9 to the eastern part of the city to connect with Freeway 14 before continuing to Kelvia Kasala International Airport.

Aviation
The Kelvia Kasala International Airport is the main airport in the city, as well as the busiest in Arola. The airport was originally built in July 1973 to relieve congestion on the existing airport, Kelvia Korvola Airport. Korvola has since ceased all commercial operations on 31st December 1982. and is now a cargo and general aviation airport.

Air Arola is headquartered in Kasala along with its subsidiaries, and provides international flights from Kasala to international destinations in Asia, Africa, America and the Oceania.

Urban transport
Urban transport in Kelvia is operated by the Kelvia Urban Transit (KKL) which oversees contracted bus operations in the city and operates the city’s light rail system and taxis.

In the 1960s, after Arola gained independence, the government planned a comprehensive metro plan in the city which was to be built in phases in the 1970s and 1980s. However, continued corruption problems and lack of funding meant that the entire project had to be scrapped. In January 1993, the idea of a light rail system in Kelvia came into conception and three years later, the city started a proposition to build an initial 2-line light rail system consisting of 14 stations to be built in the next two decades. The proposition was passed and construction began in December 2002 after contractors were hired. The system finally opened on 6th June 2008 and opened in phases until 2018. A second proposition to expand the system has been passed and planning has begun.

The most controversial part of building Kelvia’s light rail was the rolling stock. In late 2004, KKL chose to award the rolling stock contract to Takusa Railway Equipment, even though it had no experience in building light rail vehicles. After several protests from citizens and threats to cancel the project, KKL decided to award the contract to the second highest bidder:, who offered to build modified versions of its North American which had different front ends similar to the European Avanto tram-trains.