With the advent of the concept of Smart City, it is seen that almost all the cities especially state capitals are vying to be among the list of a first few smart cities of India. Working on the same line, the Government of Uttar Pradesh has launched a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as the State Capital has applied to be one among the proposed smart cities of the country.
Not only the Indian states but even foreign countries are showing keen interest in it. United States Ambassador to India Richard Verma recently said they are very excited about the scheme and keen for its success.
Lucknow is one of the 23 cities that have submitted applications to be selected as a smart city, which is being processed on fast track mode.
Addressing American Chamber of Commerce in India (AmCham India), Verma said that India needs to build a new city of Chicago every year for the next 15 years to meet the massive demands of urbanisation. The US envoy said that the Smart City scheme offers a huge business opportunity as it would require a $1.5 trillion investment.
On this occasion, he also informed that the US Treasury has expressed willingness to be the transaction advisor for resource mobilisation through municipal bonds for Pune municipality, which enjoys a credit rating of ‘AA stable’.
Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba has also urged the first 20 smart cities selected in the first round to quickly firm up bankable projects for obtaining loan assistance from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and BRICS Development Bank.
It is to be noted here that the ADB has, in principle, agreed to extend a loan of $1 billion while the World Bank is willing to extend a loan of $0.50 billion for the implementation of Smart City projects in India.
