India and the U.S. on Tuesday agreed set up Task Force for each of the three smart cities — Visakhapatnam, Allahabad, Ajmer — for formulating concrete action plans in the next three months, a statement from the Ministry of Urban Development said.
Each Task Force, consisting of three representatives each from Central and respective State Governments and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), will discuss city specific features, project requirements and appropriate revenue models for enabling flow of investments etc., before suggesting action plans for developing them as smart cities, the statement added.
Issues relating to development of these cities were discussed in detail at a meeting between the Union Urban Development Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu and the visiting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
USTDA and the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had signed Memoranda of Understanding on January 25, for developing Visakhapatnam, Allahabad and Ajmer as smart cities.