Contributions from the power equipment industry is 8.1 per cent of the manufacturing sector in terms of value and 1.35 per cent of India's GDP, providing direct employment to 5 lakh people, indirect employment to 10 lakh people, and employment to over 50 lakh people across the entire value chain.

Speaking with INFRASTRUCTURE TODAY, Sean Chiao, President, Asia Pacific, Aecom said that when the smart cities mission of the country is implemented completely, cities will have much to learn from each other's successes and failures.

With a total of 5,151 projects envisaged across the 100 cities, works on 1,177 projects worth Rs 434.93 billion have started and about 677 projects are at the tendering stage.

A smart city is not only about cutting-edge technology, gadgets guiding your lifestyle or using ICT (Information and Communications Technology) but also to string together a man-machine interaction that will drive our socio-economic engagement in the society.

Nirup Jayanth, Managing Director, Jurong Consultants (India) & Surbana Jurong Group, Singapore, opines that in a greenfiled city, flexibility and dynamism can be added to infrastructure development, by building in a modular and incremental manner with a cluster-based approach.

A greenfield smart city is a clean-slate approach towards urban growth, something that helps prepare for a new future. Two main issues that need to be addressed today a comingofage population that needs employment, and a place for them to live while they work.

When will my city become smart? This is the question that I am sought to respond to very often. The name 'Smart Cities Mission' should be renamed 'Smart Area Mission' as no city under smart cities will turn smart as per the funding provided under the mission but only an area will receive focused attention in its transformation.

With all the glitter and shine, India's newly-found tech hub, Telangana, hosted the country's smartest conclave ever - SMART URBANATION from March 22to 23, 2018.

The $1billion US-based engineering and construction management company, Louis Berger, has been active in India for over 20 years. The New Jersey-based corporation is engaged in a slewof projects, including bridges, tunnels, roads, highways, railways, and transit, aviation and smart cities.