The Hindu 21.07.2016
German delegation briefed on Smart Cities projects
Warm welcome:Mayor P. Rajkumar greeting German Ambassador to India
Martin Ney on Wednesday. Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan is in the
picture.—Photo: S. Siva Saravanan.
The civic body officials on Wednesday shared details of
its proposed projects under Smart Cities to a visiting German delegation
led by Ambassador Martin Ney.
Sources in the civic
body said that the Commissioner made a detailed presentation on the
area-based development project – cleaning and development of eight tanks
and the pan-city project – smart street poles.
The
delegation, that included representatives of German industries, funding
agencies and trade bodies, spoke in general about possible areas of
cooperation.
Mayor P. Rajkumar said that only broad
areas of collaboration were discussed and specifics did not come up at
all. “I can tell you that we did not discuss numbers.”
Officials
said that the delegation spoke about the country’s understanding with
India, how it had funded projects in other states and Tamil Nadu, in
particular. The team also expressed its desire to have a long-term
understanding with Coimbatore.
Coimbatore had just inked a twin-city understanding with the German city, Esslingen.
Mr.
Rajkumar added that the Wednesday’s visit would pave the way for
serious discussion among participating agencies for implementing the
Smart Cities project.
Earlier, Corporation school students gave a warm welcome to Mr. Ney and his team.