The IMC Chamber of Commerce & Industry has convened its first international conference on ´Smart Cities - Reimagining Urban Spaces and Financing´ in Delhi. The conference was inaugurated by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation. The international speakers like Stephen Yarwood, Ex-Mayor, City of Adelaide, Antony Vives, Ex-vice Mayor, City of Barcelona, Tim Jones, Lluis Gomez, International Director also spoke and gave examples of development in global cities.
Speakers like Atul Arya, Panasonic, R Chandrashekhar, President NASSCOM, Vivek Soni, Partner KPMG, C Kutumba Rao, Vice Chairman, AP State Planning Board, Rajiv Gauba, Secretary, MoUD, Sharmila Chavaly, Jt. Secretary, DEA, Smart City World Expo, Dhruba Purkayastha, Head - Strategy and Business Development, IMaCS and Ravi Kirpalani, Managing Director & CEO, Thyssenkrupp India Private Limited were present and spoke of the need to have sustainable and effective policies for implementation in the PPP mode.
According to Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, ´The aviation sector plays a key role in steering India towards urbanisation and enhancing airports for increased passenger flow leading to global business development and employment opportunities in a multiplier effect. The aim is to complete planned projects in the stipulated period of time to avoid delays. With clear corporate governance, we can reassure investors to finance clean operating companies.
Going forward, we aim to have more effective, innovative and transparent financing policies.´
The panelists deliberated on the key factors which would enable India to achieve tomorrow´s vision of reimagining urban spaces and financing by enhancing competitiveness. India´s population comprises 1.34 billion, of which only 31 per cent is urbanised as compared to most countries who have a urban population of about 80 per cent. While we are in the process of developing the nation´s economy fueled with the government initiatives like Urban Mission for Smart Cities, Make in India, Digital India to name a few, the recent challenges faced by India are pollution in terms of our health, lack of financial support from the government, rural rehabilitation, etc.