France pledges 2 billion euro for smart cities
France has committed investments up to 2 billion euro for the development of smart cities in India. The investments will be meant to convert Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry into smart cities, French Ambassador in India Francois Richier said on Wednesday. “Also, there is an investment of another 200 million euros for the extension of Bangalore metro,” he said. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in April, the country had committed 600 million euro for smart cities and other projects related to sustainability, including in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Besides developing the smart cities, France was keen to develop heritage sites and tourism for the smart cities, Richier said at a seminar on ‘Towards Smart and Sustainable Cities’ organized by FICCI, Embassy of France in India and the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) in New Delhi on Wednesday. “With France, already pledging financial support in developing three cities in the country, the Indian government was looking towards more such partnerships with France,” read a statement by Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Urban Development. Durga Shanker Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, said, “France was actively partnering with India in its initiatives of developing 100 smart cities and AMRUT.” The government was moving ahead on both the projects by engaging with the state governments and local bodies as their involvement would give an impetus to the projects, Mishra said. The Indian private sector businesses have also expressed willingness to take part in building smart cities along with foreign investors. “FICCI had been collaborating with the Embassy of France in addressing PPP issues in urban sector in India and the seminar was a step ahead in strengthening this association further,” said Jyotsna Suri, President, FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry).
November 05, 2015 | 4:25pm IST.
to success.