France to help India in Smart City, Railways projects

A delegation led by French envoy Francois Richier on Monday met top officials of Union Territory administration and discussed a range of areas of cooperation including the Smart City project and providing high-speed connectivity between Chandigarh and Delhi. <g data-gr-id="24">Delegation</g> also called on Punjab and Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, held detailed discussions with Adviser to Chandigarh Administrator, Vijay Kumar Dev and other top UT officials.

In a joint press conference with Dev here this evening, <g data-gr-id="20">Richier</g> said, the visit of the delegation to Chandigarh on Monday was a <g data-gr-id="21">followup</g> of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France in April this year, during which it had been agreed upon by the Indian and French sides to cooperate in various areas including the ones of relevance to Chandigarh.

“During the Indian Prime Minister’s visit, the two countries had discussed a range of areas of cooperation including two which are directly of relevance for Chandigarh- Railways and Smart City projects,” <g data-gr-id="22">Richier</g> said.

The Ambassador said France and Chandigarh administration officials also <g data-gr-id="28">discussed about</g> possibilities of cooperation in areas like heritage preservation and Archeology. He said the ties between France and Chandigarh have a long history, thanks to the main architect of the City Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier. In the heritage sector, it was agreed that the French Government and Chandigarh administration would partner in pushing the Capitol complex to be included in UNESCO world heritage list.

Notably, Corbusier had led a team of European planners to design Chandigarh, which India’s first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru wanted to be a symbol of post-independence, modern India. Corbusier planned the city on the lines of a human body - the Capitol Complex was to be the head, the commercial centre its heart, the industrial area hand and the intellectual centre being the parkland.  In the railway sector, France will provide assistance including funding, technology and other necessary support to help develop high-speed connectivity between Delhi and Chandigarh. <g data-gr-id="31">Train</g> would run at a speed over 200 <g data-gr-id="30">kmph</g> after completion of the project, for which MoU would be signed soon between the Railways of the two nations.