 "Badal for IT-enabled smart cities")
During his second day meetings at Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal held discussions with management of reputed international companies and said several reforms and initiatives have already been implemented to improve infrastructure in major cities of Punjab.
Badal held one-to-one meetings with senior representatives of IBM, Cisco and Oracle who have evinced interest to provide IT solutions for smart cities and displayed their technological advances through power presentations to address the concerns about energy and water consumption, inclusive and sustainable urbanisation, climate change and urban governance.
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Badal asked the companies to provide solutions for building smart cities that would also have robust transport system, proper facilities for entertainment and safety and security including state-of-the-art health and education amenities for the inhabitants and businesses.
Badal said smart cities would minimise waste by increasing energy efficiency and reduce water conservation besides proper recycling of waste materials. Being environment-friendly, such cities will also use sustainable materials for building facilities and reduce energy consumption, he said.
Badal also visited different offices and residential complexes in Barcelona and said Punjab would like to gain from the experiences of planning and execution of smart city practices of Barcelona.