US to turn Vizag into smart city

New Delhi: India and the US have decided to take "quick measures" to develop Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and Ajmer in Rajasthan as smart cities.

The nitty gritty was discussed at a meeting in Delhi between Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who travelled as part of President Barack Obama's delegation on his three-day India visit that ended today.

Mr Naidu and Ms Pritzker decided to form a task force for each of the three cities to formulate concrete action plans in the next three months, an official statement said.

Each team will consist of three representatives each from the central and respective state governments and the US Trade and Development Agency or USTDA.

Each task force will discuss city specific features, project requirements and appropriate revenue models for flow of investments, before suggesting action plans for developing them as smart cities.

Ms Pritzker said she had earlier met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia and found them to be "go getters." She said she was "confident of making a success of the smart city cooperation between the US and India".

"This meeting was in pursuance of the directive of President Barack Obama to work on the economic dimension of strategic and commercial dialogue between Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President Obama and the decisions taken," Ms Pritzker said.

Mr Naidu, referring to the Modi-Obama joint statement of September last year and the signing of Memoranda of Understanding on smart city cooperation, said it was now time for both the sides to "walk the talk by acting quick and concretising the agreements reached".