Japan to help make Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi Smart Cities

Japan has decided to be associated with the development of Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities. This has been conveyed by Japan’s Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu to the Indian Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu.   As per reports, Japan is quite interested in urban development initiatives of the Government of India and has decided to be a partner.   On the need for speedy action, Japan would like to match the action-oriented approach of the Indian Government. There were discussions on the growing cooperation between the two countries as well.   Further, the High Commissioner of UK Dominic Asquith also met Naidu and has discussed about converting into action, the MoU signed between the two countries during British Prime Minister Teresa May’s recent visit to India, on cooperation in the urban development sector. According to him, institutionalising Government-to-Government cooperation for smart city development has huge potential.   So far, leading countries have come forward to be associated with development of 15 smart cities. These include: United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA) – Visakhapatnam, Ajmer and Allahabad; UK – Pune, Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) and Indore; France – Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagpur; and Germany – Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Kochi.