International orgs keen to invest in Indian smart cities

NEW DELHI, INDIA:  The Prime Minister’s vision for ‘Smart Cities’ has received considerable support and wide spread interest from countries and international organizations to explore investment and collaborative opportunities with India.

In the ongoing Smart Cities India 2015 expo in New Delhi, Poland expressed interest to partner with India’s smart cities and industrial corridors, exploring investments in power and mining sectors in many Indian states.

Smart Cities India 2015 expo hosted pavilions from different countries such as Poland, Sweden and European Business &Technology Center (EBTC).

The guest of honour for the event, Ambassador of Sweden, Harald Sandberg said that it is commendable that India is committed to developing the country in smarter and a sustainable way.

“Public-private partnership is the way forward for this initiative. Sweden has gained relevant experience through over-coming water and pollution related challenges and thereby transforming Sweden to an eco-friendly country. The ambitious smart cities project in India demands small steps to be taken by every citizen to make it a sprawling success,” he added.

Under the government's 100 smart cities programme, approved by the Cabinet last month, each selected city will receive central assistance of Rs 100 crore annually for five years driving economic growth and taking progress forward. Special emphasis will be given to participation of citizens in prioritizing and planning urban interventions.

According to an estimate, by the year 2050, the population in Indian cities will touch 843 million. To accommodate this extensive urbanisation, India needs to find smarter ways to manage complexities, reduce expenses, increase efficiency, and improve the quality of urban life.

“Urbanisation in India is happening at an accelerating rate. By 2031, the population in the urban areas will increase to 600 million from current 377 million. This will boost the increase in the middle class section of the society that will generate larger aspirations seeking better quality of life and sustainable eco-system. Smart cities concept would require enormous knowledge transfer to devise solutions that are suitable for the Indian scenario” shared BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman, NASSCOM and Executive Chairman, Cyient, India.

As per industry body NASSCOM, the government's smart cities programme can create business opportunities to the tune of $30-40 billion for the IT sector over the next 5-10 years.

“Smart Cities concept is built on 4 pillars that includes Physical (Infrastructure), Social (Health, Education, and Entertainment), Institutional (Municipalities & City Managers), Economic (Ease of doing business in India). The initiatives should be commercially viable, socially inclusive and maintain ecological balance,” said Rakesh Kaul, Partner-Government and Public services, PwC, India.

Around 207 domestic and international participants showcased their products and services to buyers, industry representatives, center, state and local body officials with industry representatives, town and city planners, architects, realtors, academia, students and media, etc.

Exhibiting companies include Hewlett-Packard, Wipro, CISCO, Schneider Electric, Lavasa, Barco, Berger Paints India, Basildon Borough Council, L&T Construction, Zippr Pvt Ltd, Volvo, Skipper Ltd, Neo Zeo, Royal Appliances, Newgen Group, etc.