India to sign pacts with Japan, Maldives on urban development measures: Govt

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 2

The Centre on Wednesday approved the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Sustainable Urban Development between India and Japan in supersession of the existing MoU of 2007 on Urban Development.

The government in an official release said, “The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Sustainable Urban Development between the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Government of Japan, in supersession of existing MoU of 2007 on Urban Development.”

As per the decision, after signing of the memorandum a Joint Working Group (JWG) “will be constituted to strategise and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoC”, it said, adding that the JWC “will meet once in a year, alternately in Japan and in India.

“The cooperation under this MoC will commence on the date of its signature and continue for a period of 5 years. Thereafter, it may be renewed automatically for further successive periods of 5 years at a time,” the government said.

Noting that the MoC with Japan would promote strong, deep and long-term bilateral cooperation, the government said, it is expected to create employment opportunities in the areas of sustainable urban development, “including Urban Planning, Smart Cities Development, Affordable Housing, (including rental housing), Urban Flood Management, Sewerage and Waste Water Management, Urban Transport (including Intelligent Transport Management System, Transit-Oriented Development and Multimodal Integration) and Disaster Resilient development”.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet has also given its nod to a proposal to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between India and Maldives on cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development.