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1st LD Writethru: Indian capital to be developed as smart city

Xinhua, January 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Indian government Thursday said that it would develop the national capital, along with 19 other cities, as smart cities.

Apart from New Delhi, the 20 cities were chosen from a list of over 100 cities in a nationwide competition to pick cities and towns for giving a smart city makeover.

The other cities include Jaipur, Surat and Pune in western India, Jabalpur and Indore in central India, Bhubaneswar in eastern India and Kochi in southern India.

"It's a paradigm shift in our approach to urban development," Indian Urban Development Minister Venkiah Naidu told the media in the national capital.

"It's an ambitious game changer that seeks to transform all these cities and towns into sustainable centers of academic activity providing improved quality of life," he added.

Stressing that the 20 cities were chosen in a transparent competition, the minister said: "So we introduced an element of competition to pick up the best candidates."

Naidu added: "Changes and challenges and desired outcomes are there. It was imperative to pick up cities and towns that can face these challenges." Enditem