$100-million needed to make Ahmedabad 'Smart City': ZTE India CEO

AHMEDABAD: The government may have to spend at least $100 million annually to convert a city with size and population of Ahmedabad into a ' Smart City', Philip Liu, the CEO of Chinese technology firm ZTEsoft's Indian arm ZTE India today said.

Liu and several top officials of ZTEsoft were here today to take part in the Gujarat Smart City Workshop.

Speaking to the media, Liu also said that investment for smart city may go up if cost of building infrastructure is added.

To the question how much investment is needed to convert a city like Ahmedabad into a smart city, Liu said, "This is too early to predict about the exact investment... But I can give you a rough figure by making comparison with other similar size cities in China where we have implemented our projects.

"The total investment needed would be at least $ 100 million annually for a city like this. Moreover, the investment could go higher in initial phase, as we have to upgrade the existing infrastructure such as fibre optic network."

The workshop was jointly organised by ZTEsoft and R&D Centre of Shenzhen Government, China.

Several Gujarat government officials and mayors of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar also attended it, said the company's Managing Director for India and South Asia Prasoon Sharma.

Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar civic bodies have signed 'Letter of Cooperation' with Shenzhen Government for smart city project.

Shenzhen government had signed two MoUs with Gujarat to develop smart cities during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's China visit in May this year, said Sharma.

"Today we have decided to form a joint committee having members of all the stakeholders to find out the areas where we need to focus for smart city project. We expect that the report would come in November," said Sharma.

According to him, different solutions will be needed for both the cities which are distinct in size and population.

"We learned that people visiting Gandhinagar find it difficult to locate places, as all the roads and landmarks look the same. In that case, we can offer them smart traffic modules as well as intelligent signalling systems.

"In Ahmedabad, we can provide smart solutions for waste management and water supply. There can be many other areas, which will emerge during our joint study. After the report arrives, we will carry out a pilot project in these cities," said Sharma.