South Korea's Land & Housing Corporation (LH) has moved a step closer to building a smart city in the Indian state of Maharashtra after its plans were approved by the local assembly last April 6. The approval follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding on March 21 between LH and the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation, the state body that is overseeing the project. LH now plans to construct the New Kalyan Smart City on a site about 30km east of Mumbai. The aim is to construct a settlement with a population of 15,000 houses over a 2.5-square-kilometre site about 30km east of Mumbai. The project, which is estimated to be worth about $350m, will be built on land supplied free by the municipal corporation. LH hopes to receive a planning permission from the Maharashtra government before the end of 2017. New Kalyan is one of 100 smart cities that India has been planning to build since Narendra Modi's BJP won the 2014 general election. India's building program coincides with Korea's drive to export the smart city technology that was pioneered at its own city of Bundang; it also comes after the two countries agreed a strategic partnership during Modi's visit to Korea in May 2015. — Agencies
