India and Germany Thursday signed a MoU on urban development and Smart Cities programme in India.

The objective of the programme is to develop and apply concepts for sustainable urban development about the provision of urban basic services and housing in selected cities and Smart Cities in India, said an officla release.

The Agreement was signed between India’s Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs(MoHUA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit(GIZ) GmbH, India on behalf of the Germany

The agreement was signed by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Annette Röckel, Deputy Country Director and Ms. Tanja Feldmann, Cluster Coordinator, Sustainable Urban and Industrial Development, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India.

Speaking after signing of the MOU, Hardeep Puri said that the technical cooperation measure will support approaches for sustainable urban development in the area of integrated planning, provision of affordable housing and basic services with particular focus on water, waste water and solid waste management and mobility.

The ‘Sustainable Urban Development Programme - Smart Cities in India’ project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and jointly implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).