New Delhi: The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry is keen to tap Singapore's expertise in the urban sector with a focus on the Smart City Mission and IT- enabled services, a senior official said.
Keeping this in view, around 100 Indian town and country planners were recently trained by Singapore-based companies, a move aimed at giving momentum to the government's flagship Smart City Mission, which has a major component of IT-enabled services, he said. Under the Mission, 90 cities have been selected so far by the government and each city will get Rs 500 crore as central assistance for implementing projects.
Reviewing the progress of the Smart City Mission, on August 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the challenge before everyone was now to ensure implementation and expeditious completion of the work in the 90 identified cities, with high quality.
The official said that the Singapore-based companies have evinced interest in urban projects in Assam, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
A consortium of these companies is working to develop Amravati, the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh, an official note, prepared in September, on India-Singapore relations, said. Singapore is also working with the Rajasthan government in preparing the concept plans for townships in Udaipur and Jodhpur, and with Himachal Pradesh to develop an integrated township of Greater Shimla, it said.