Metropolis to propel brand Hyderabad

Prime Minister Modi invited for the inaugural while the President will take part in the valedictory. he Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Special Commissioner, Ahmed Babu said 380 international delegates including Mayors of several member cities, technocrats, administrators and experts have already confirmed their participation.

October 01, 2014 12:25 am | Updated November 17, 2021 12:13 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Telangana State government is seeking to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the inaugural of XI Metropolis World Congress scheduled to be held in the city from October 6 to 10. The President, Pranab Mukherjee, has already consented to participate in the valedictory of the event to be attended by more than 2,000 national and international delegates.

According to an official engaged with Metropolis arrangements, Mr. Modi has been invited to inaugurate the event and confirmation on whether he would be able to make it or not was awaited. “We expect the details in next couple of days after the Prime Minister returns from US visit,” he said.

The former President, A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, would be delivering the keynote address on ‘Of the People By the People For the People’ at a plenary session to be moderated by V.K. Saraswath, former chief of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Special Commissioner, Ahmed Babu said 380 international delegates including Mayors of several member cities, technocrats, administrators and experts have already confirmed their participation and with national delegates, the total participation will be more than 2,000. “The Mayors of most member cities including Johannesburg, Barcelona, Berlin and Tehran are coming here,” he said.

The Metropolis World Congress this time would be assembling for the theme ‘Cities for All’ and is slated to begin with children sharing their perspectives about and aspirations from their cities.

In later sessions, representatives of different cities would share their own issues, experiences, success stories and Mr.Babu said some were also keen to ink pacts on technology sharing with Hyderabad. “We are also trying to act as a B2B platform where cost-effective technologies and know-how could be worked out between cities,” he said.

Lined up are different aspects including 100 Smart Cities, issues of metropolitan governance, resource mobilisation and five sessions on city management services related to waste, water, roads and sanitation. The Metropolis Congress also has specific agenda on issues such as women, green buildings and some cities like Barcelona, Mexico, Seoul and Sao Paulo demonstrating their initiatives.

Venue 4G enabled

As part of the proposal to roll out fourth generation broadband services in the city, the 4G services will be made available initially around the Metropolis World Congress venue at HICC in Madhapur. The services being introduced by Reliance Jio were tested on Monday night and Tuesday morning at Shilparamam point and were found to be satisfactory.

GHMC Special Commissioner Ahmed Babu said the 4G services will also be tested at HICC later on Tuesday and made operational here in all aspects before the event inauguration. To be available in a radius of 4 kms, the 4G services in Wi-Fi mode will be available free of charge for the delegates and details on how to logon are will explained to them.

‘Sheharnama’

‘Sheharnama’ is an event of short films of 20 minutes to 60 minutes duration on issues faced by different cities and their process of solution finding. A total of 60 such short films from different parts of the country and some from abroad have been selected for ‘Sheharnama’.

Technical visits

Technical Visits for delegates to cover Hyderabad Metro Rail, Hussainsagar Lake reclamation, Women Self Help Groups, Indian Green Building Council, IT Corridor/Cyberabad, GVK EMRI – Emergency Services, Heritage Conservation, Rs.5 Food Scheme and Outer Ring Road.

“We are trying to ensure that Metropolis Congress deliberations are not going to be mere academic in nature but throws up constructive results on issues faced by the member cities” – Ahmed Babu, Special Commissioner, GHMC.

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