Indian Smart City Project
South Korea is about to win a smart city project in India in a year after the Korean government promised to provide financial support worth US$10 billion (11.8 trillion won) for infrastructure projects in India at the summit meeting between Korea and India last year.
According to industry sources on May 29, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) will sign an agreement next month to participate in “Pune Smart City” development project in Maharashtra Province, India.
Currently, the project is worth US$500 million (600 billion won), but the Korean government is expected to negotiate the exact project size with the Ministry of Finance of India until the last minute.
Pune with a population of 3.1 million was selected as one of 20 leading smart city development cities early this year. With the ninth highest growth rate in India, the city has more than 800 colleges and serves as a hub of information technology and automotive industry in the nation. However, it suffers from poor residential environments, including traffic congestion and housing problems. Pune City plans to carry out development projects with two axes –urban redevelopment and smart new city.
Meanwhile, the India project promotion team at LH will make a tour of smart new city with officials from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and discuss the ways to utilize the ADB funds early next month.