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Friday, February 27, 2015

India to build 12 smart port cities

The government of India intends to build one eco-friendly smart city at each of the country's 12 major ports, an estimated investment of $8 billion, according to Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping.

"Each port will construct one smart city. Each city will be built with an expenditure of about Rs 3,000-4,000 crore (approximately $5 million)," Gadkari said. "These will be green smart cities. We are starting work on these in four to six months. You will see all these complete in five years."

The Union Minister said the cities will have wide roads, green energy, advanced townships and greenery. In addition, the smart cities and ports will

feature e-governance links, international standard facilities, special economic zones, ship breaking and ship building centers.

"Port water will be recycled. Port wastes will be turned into bio gas. Vehicles will run on bio fuel. Solar energy and wind power will be generated at ports," reports Gadkari.

The ports have also been asked to add projects that increase their collective capacity to 1,600 million tons from the current 800 million tons.

For more of the Economic Times story: economictimes.indiatimes.com