PARIS: France has become the first country to make a financial commitment towards the National Democratic Alliance government’s ambitious ‘smart city’ project. Around €2 billion will be provided to convert Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry into smart cities, ambassador of France in India Francois Richier announced on Wednesday. While other countries, including the US, Japan, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and Singapore have entered into partnerships and have chosen their preferred cities to invest in, no figure was mentioned earlier, experts working in the area pointed out.
That does not, however, mean that France would be bound by this commitment, said a source. “It shows the serious intent in being a part of the smart city project,’’ he added. Also, the proposed investment would primarily come from French companies, which perhaps already have significant exposure in India, with the government backing them.
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Estimates suggest that building a new smart city with one-million population would cost around Rs 20,000 crore a year for the next 10-15 years, while building on existing cities would be cheaper depending on the nature of retrofitting work required. The Centre had decided to spend Rs 50,000 crore and the remaining was expected to come from states and private entities.
