The Telangana government is in talks with Dubai Holdings, a Dubai government-owned company, for establishing a state-of-the-art 'Smart City' in Hyderabad.
Dubai Holdings officials were invited to the city by IT minister K T Rama Rao when the latter visited the Gulf in December last to explore the possibility of setting up the Smart City. The visit by the company representatives assumes importance in view of the upcoming visit to some Gulf nations by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao this weekend to meet with investors and to promote industrial and business investments in Telangana. Another Gulf-based company, the Lulu Group, has already expressed interest to invest Rs 2,000 crore in Telangana with plans to build a hyper-mall, fruit and meat processing centres.
Dubai Holdings representatives on Wednesday were taken around various possible locations, including some spots near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad where Smart City could be set up. The company is currently involved in the construction of the nearly Rs 4,000 crore Kochi Smart City in Kerala that is expected to generate up to 90,000 jobs in the IT sector and support services.
