After committing a whopping Rs.7,500 crore investment and development of five smart-cities in Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai-based Essel Group is eyeing similar projects in West Bengal in collaboration with the state and central government under the Pubic Private Partnership (PPP) model
"The (West Bengal) state government is now appointing a consultant to create a bid document for the project," company chairman Subhash Chandra said in a media interaction here.
The state government is planning to develop Rajarhat and New Town as smart cities in future presenting a galore of opportunities.
Chandra said the group is interested to work in collaboration with the municipal corporations and aid the region in electricity, water and power distribution through the use of smart technology.
The company is keen to develop integrated smarter communities across major cities of the state by undertaking projects in power and water distribution services, solid waste management, sewage treatment, drainage and storm water management and several others.
"In developing smart cities, we are uniquely placed in the sense that we are managing power distribution in seven cities like in Nagpur, Muzaffarpur and also three cities in Madhya Pradesh; in Aurangabad, we are managing the water supply fully. These utilities models have been worked out. These are complex workings and calculations. We will learn from these models and improvise accordingly," Chandra said.
A company official said that a population of per one million would require investment of Rs.10 crore.