Union Cabinet approves MoUs with four nations for urban development

The Union Cabinet has approved four Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked between India and four European countries – France, United Kingdom, Denmark and Netherlands on sustainable urban development as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project ‘Smart Cities’.

A joint working group will also be formed to strategise and implement programmes on co-operation under the MoU framework. The meetings will be held once in a year, in India and in the partner countries alternatively.

The agreements are aimed to promote technical cooperation in the areas of sustainable Smart Cities development, waste development, affordable housing, intelligent transport systems, research and development, spatial planning and mobility management, said the Cabinet note.

The four MOUs signed in March and April said that the deals would create employment in the areas of Smart Cities development.

With the UK, areas of cooperation include skill development, urban development, urban mobility and innovative access to finance.

The deal with Denmark is focused on technical cooperation in the areas of sustainable and smart urban development, research and commercial relations.

India and Netherlands will co-operate in spatial planning, water management, Smart City development, heritage conservation, among others.