February 23, 2018
The technical cooperation will support development in the areas of affordable housing and basic services with particular focus on water, waste water and solid waste management and mobility.
The “Sustainable Urban Development Programme - Smart Cities in India” project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Germany’s contribution to India’s sustainable urban development and smart cities project is estimated to be up to US$9.8 million; The project will span over three years starting 2018.
Smart City mission will be implemented through Special purpose Vehicles and comes as India is planning to invest US$650 billion investments in urban infrastructure over the next 20 years.
India and Germany have signed an agreement centred around cooperation in sustainable urban development and smart cities. The deal signed on February 23rd will develop and apply concepts of sustainable urban infrastructure related to provision of urban basic services and housing in selected cities and smart cities across India. The Agreement was signed between India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the Indian unit of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, a German development agency. The technical cooperation will support development in the areas of integrated planning, provision of affordable housing and basic services with particular focus on water, waste water and solid waste management and mobility.
The ‘Sustainable Urban Development Programme – Smart Cities in India’ project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and jointly implemented by the MoHUA and the GIZ. The project will seek to achieve the set targets under the national urban programmed such as the Smart Cities Mission, linking with the Sustainable Development Goal No. 11 “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India with the mission to develop 100 cities across the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable. The German contribution to the project is estimated to be up to US$9.8 million. The project will span over three years starting 2018.
The candidates for Smart Cities are selected through a “Smart City Challenge Competition” which links financing and capacity with the ability to achieve multidimensional objectives of sustainable urban development. A typical project will include clean water supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, affordable housing for the poor, power supply, robust IT connectivity, governance, especially e-governance and citizen participation, safety and security of citizens, health, education and sustainable urban environment. Smart City mission will be implemented through Special purpose Vehicles (SPV) to be managed by state governments. The project comes as India is planning to invest US$650 billion investments in urban infrastructure over the next 20 years.