India, Austria tie up to develop smart cities

Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI: India will draw on

the Austrian experience to develop smart cities with an overhauled gamut of service from city planning to urban transport and even Internet services. On Tuesday, Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath announced the India-Austria collaboration to build a model smart city, which will serve as a template for replication. Mr. Nath said under the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the Centre will push for two smart cities in all States. Initially, midsized cities with a population of between half a million to a million will be selected for the transformation.

Two cities in each State

Under the JNNURM II the Central Government proposes to have two smart cities in each State. We want to seek assistance from the Austrian Institute of Technology on what is a model smart city, what denes it, what will it cover, from broadband, [being] carbon neutral, [to having] intelligent transportMr. Nath said.

FORGING NEW TIES: Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath with Austrian Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation & Technology Doris Bures during a Press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. - PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
create a whole basket of engagements not restricted to trade but including technology and best practices, he said. The Minister said his Ministry has had discussions with a visiting delegation from Austria that includes Doris Bures, Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Government of Austria, to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and technology. ner organisations to carry out the work, Mr. Nath said.

Urbanisation a challenge

70 million plus cities

Citing examples of the cities that can be developed as smart cities, Mr. Nath said places like Ujjain and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, with their areas and population can meet the requirements for the project. In the next decade, India will have over 70 cities with a million plus population. Austria has already been engaged with India for a long time and we are keen to increase that engagement to economic and technological sides. We want to

For her part, the Austrian Minister Doris Bures said Austria and India can increase collaboration on several fronts including mobility. More and more people now want to move to cities, this poses a challenge. And the answer to the challenge is new technology and close cooperation. The quesPartner organisations tion of mobility in the city is The National Institute of also a major issue, she said. Urban Affairs, a research, Ms. Bures said the Austria training and information dis- is keen to increase its engagesemination wing under the ment with India and smart Urban Development Ministry cities where energy efficienand the Austrian Institute of cy, generation and mobility Technology will be the part- play a role is one such area.