Smart City Kochi shortlists planners

The Dubai-based SmartCity headquarters have invited Indian and international planning companies to submit proposals for SmartCity Kochi's master plan. SmartCity Kochi's foundation stone was laid last November.

SmartCity executive director Fareed Abdulrahman explained: "We have shortlisted four eminent international and national master planners and invited them to submit their proposals for the project."

The master planner selection phase is good news for the state of Kerala in India. At the SmartCity Kochi board meeting last December, it was mentioned that the work on the master plan process for SmartCity Kochi project would start by the first quarter of 2008. SmartCity Malta and SmartCity Kochi are the first two projects to be part of the global network of knowledge-based industry townships that SmartCity seeks to develop.