Pune to get the first carbon-neutral township feature

71st year of India-Switzerland friendship treaty. Pic/Chaitraly Deshmukh

The smart city initiative first carbon-neutral township with the features of a sustainable project, will make Pune the next Switzerland. The 71st year of India-Switzerland friendship treaty, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) under the government of Maharashtra has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 2000 Watt Smart City Association (2000WSCA) for development of carbon-neutral, smart townships on Thursday.

The MOU was signed in presence of Vikram Kumar, Metropolitan Commissioner and CEO, PMRDA and Othmar Hardegger, Consul General of Switzerland, Mumbai. Dignitaries including, Kavita Dwivedi, Additional Commissioner and Additional CEO (Admin), PMRDA, Vivek Kharwadkar, Metropolitan Planner, Chief Engineer, PMRDA, Madhav Bhagwat, Founding Partner, 2000Watt Smart City Association and Nikhil Dixit, Local Partner, 200Watt Smart City Association were present at the occasion.

With an aim to constrain carbon emission and enhance energy sufficiency in its approach towards development of Pune, the PMRDA along with 2000WSCA, which is authorized to represent 2000Watt site, an intellectual property of Swiss Federal Office of energy of Swiss Confederationwill plan and develop a carbon-neutral sustainable township, which will provide environment-friendly and better living to its future inhabitants and also enhance trade of innovative technologies. 2000Watt Smart City will be a new label developed under this agreement, which will be the combination of 2000WattSite and Smart City India regulatory guidelines. The label will create a new joint intellectual property of 2000WSCA and PMRDA for its application in Maharashtra.

Speaking to Mid-Day Othmar Hardegger stated, "We have developed a strategy to support India in establishing carbon-neutral smart townships and will work closely with PMRDA. For Smart City project Maharashtra is an important place and Pune, in particular, is a focal point for investment as the economy here is attractive. I am optimistic that the township project will attract investors from India and Switzerland as well."

According to Vikram Kumar, the first-ever carbon-neutral township will open new avenues for people and upgrade technology in different sectors. He said, "The smart township model will be designed on the structure of the townships in Switzerland. The carbon-neutral townships will consist of 12 different themes which will focus on specialized areas like Agricultural cluster, Emerging Technology and Tourism, Fintech, Start-ups and Healthcare. We'll invite people to invest in the town planning scheme and also develop the model on land belonging to PMRDA. If the project is successful, then it can be adopted across the state," he said. Madhav Bhagwat said, "This development will attract investments of over USD 1 billion in infrastructure segment and other establishments in various industries in Pune."

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