External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday left for a two-day visit to Singapore to flag off year-long celebrations of 50 years of India-Singapore diplomatic relationship.
Besides holding talks with her counterpart in Singapore, the EAM will also meet business leaders, think tanks and members of Indian community. India seeks more investment from Singapore besides looking at Singapore’s expertise in urban service delivery system for Smart Cities and rejuvenation of existing Indian cities.
The rejuvenation of Indian cities will be done by retrofitting cities with smart technologies such as smart buildings, water, energy grid, mobility and public services. Delhi, Kanpur, lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, ludhiana, Kolkatta, Ranchi, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Chennai, Banaglore, Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Kochi, Greater Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Jaipur and Indore are the cities that have been identified for rejuvenation.
India is also looking at Singapore’s expertise on water treatment. Two-thirds of Singapore’s land surface is a water catchment area now with water stored in 17 reservoirs, including Marina Basin. Waste-water is collected and treated to produce drinking water. This meets 30 per cent of the city’s water needs. India feels this experience can be useful for cities like Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi that face acute water shortage.
“Singapore has good concept of rain water harvesting, waste water management etc and India would like to take ideas on this…We have a shared vision on building Smart Cities to improve economic efficiency of our cities, provide a better quality of life to citizens and promote sustainable urban development,” said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of MEA.