An Australian business delegation has announced its interest in investing and exploring potential opportunities that may arise from India’s nationwide ‘smart cities’ program. The business consortium is made up of 35 members - and they flew in India this week to meet with those tasked with the responsibility of leading the smart cities initiative.
Australian Trade Commissioner, Grayson Perry is spearheading the delegation from Down Under, and said it wanted to form long-term relationships and business partnerships with state governments and private sectors organizations across various sectors.
It has been disclosed that members of the delegation are scheduled to engage in discussions with officials from the state urban development department, Chief Secretary Sumit Mallick and executives from a series of private sector business in a bid to explore opportunities in the forthcoming smart cities project in Maharashtra.
Perry claimed that the executives that formed the trade delegation had previous experience in conducting and implementing smart cities initiatives and programs in the past – and offered expertise in a range of sectors such as smart infrastructure, water and smart waste management. He said the consortium of businessmen where excited by the potential opportunities in India’s government-led smart cities project.
Perry said: “We are here to build relationships with the state governments here as well as the private sector companies, which are involved in Smart City projects to explore the possibilities of Australian involvement and participation in various projects. Apart from technological know-how, we have a lot of solutions that we can offer the government’s smart cities program. We want to build relationships with the Indian companies and extend not just technological support, but also participate in the entire development chain.”
It has been further disclosed that the trade delegation will visit cities such as New Delhi, Bhopal and Mumbai and will meet with Niti Aayog officials, those leading various other smart cities projects in the state governments and municipalities, and with other leading Indian private sector companies.
