UK to help India make three smart cities

Cameron_Modi_800As part of the 100 Smart Cities initiative, the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), along with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and India Electronics and Semi-conductor Association (IESA), are organising smart city roundtables to jointly explore opportunities between India and the UK in the development of Amaravathi, Pune and Indore as smart cities.

The step is taken in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the UK in November 2015, when he and the UK Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to a new five-year partnership to develop three smart cities in India, namely Amaravathi, Indore and Pune.

The first round table kicked off in Amaravathi on February 17, 2016 and will be followed by Bhopal on March 1, 2016.

Amaravathi is the newly announced capital region of Andhra Pradesh. The State Government has a vision to make Amaravathi an example of a smart city, with fibre optic connectivity and smart infrastructure systems. British companies have world-class consulting, project management and engineering skills that can help to plan, design and build these new cities.

A total of nine companies from the UK will participate in the round table, during which these will connect with key decision makers from the Urban Development Ministry, town planning, the local municipality, tourism department and various Indian companies, also identifying the opportunities to be a part of the smart cities dream.

Andrew McAllister, Deputy High Commissioner to Hyderabad, said , “The UK supports the Make in India campaign, as does UK business. Our companies can help India across the entire span of the four-pillar smart city framework. We have expertise in infrastructure – from smart transport and mobility to water and waste management – in digital – particularly in financial technology and eCommerce – and in design, professional services, healthcare and eGovernance. Through the roundtable event, we are bringing together UK companies and Indian stakeholders to explore how we can work together on this. We want to take forward the agreement launched by Prime Minister Cameron during Modi’s recent visit to the UK, when he announced our commitment to support India’s goal of 100 Smart Cities. We are particularly excited to begin this programme in Andhra Pradesh, where there is a rare opportunity to build a smart city from scratch, with the development of a brand new state capital, Amaravathi.

Last year, UK Trade Minister, Lord Francis Maude launched a report, India’s Smart Cities Programme – The UK offer to build together. The report analysed the strengths of UK companies in this sphere, along with several areas where the UK’s expertise would be useful to India, including physical (infrastructure including mass transport, water, waste management, built environment), digital (ICT, data, software, analytics and smart metering), commercial (professional services, regulatory standards, financing and legal), and social (municipal services, community-led designs and services, eGovernance, healthcare), in line with the four pillars mentioned in the Government of India’s draft framework for smart cities.