European Union Project leads to Cooperation on Smart Cities, use of digital planning tools between the Cities of Hamburg, Germany and Vijayawada, India

Supported by the European Union, International Urban Cooperation India project, the cooperation between Vijayawada and Hamburg (Germany) is progressing. A seven-member delegation from the City of Hamburg headed by the Senate Secretary, Ms. Julie Shiraishi has visited Vijayawada during 25 February – 1 March, 2019 to meet with the Mayor of Vijayawada, Mr. Koneru Sreedhar and the Municipal Commissioner, Mr. M. Rama Rao of the City of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The group comprised of representatives from Hamburg Municipality, Hafen City University and German Chamber of Commerce in India. The purpose of this exchange visit is to strengthen the cooperation based on a local action plan for the implementation of a pilot project based upon digital planning tools experience of Hamburg and Hafen City University. The delegation has visited various smart city sites in Vijayawada city to know the practical use of a smart planning tool in case of Vijayawada city.
On this occasion, the head of the delegation, Ms. Julie Shiraishi from Hamburg has said, “We are very delighted to be here. It is indeed a good chance to work with an important city like Vijayawada from India. We are here to assess the baseline scenarios based on which we will be finalizing a roadmap to work with Vijayawada.
We are also very obliged to European Union to provide us with this unique opportunity and we look forward to a productive partnership” The Mayor of Vijayawada, Mr. Koneru Sreedhar said, “We are very obliged to
Hamburg city to have chosen Vijayawada as its paired city. There are very good opportunities for both Vijayawada and Hamburg as partners to work on common areas of priority. We anticipate that this pairing will really result into some real time solutions which will be useful for the citizens of Vijayawada”
IUC/India, is part of the corresponding global IUC Programme. It is financed by the European Union, and implemented by a consortium of GFA Consulting Group GmbH (leader) and CRISIL. The IUC aims to boost cooperation on sustainable urban development with EU partners in Asia and the Americas.
For more information contact Mr. Ashish Verma, IUC/India, averma@iuc-india.eu