Visakhapatnam: Experts from the developed world showcased the best practices being adopted in their countries for modernising infrastructure, at the capacity building workshop organised jointly by the Indian G20 Presidency and the Asian Development Bank here on Thursday.
The workshop highlighted the capacity prerequisites for local governments to finance urban infrastructure for inclusive, resilient and sustainable cities. The workshop comprised classroom sessions and field visits by delegates to enable effective cross-learning. The visit aimed to strengthen the understanding of innovative features and various financing schemes.
In the first half of the workshop, experts from Singapore, South Korea, Russia, China, European Commission and India presented the practices in their countries for urban infrastructure financing.
Ah Tuan Loh, former deputy CEO and director-general of the National Environmental Agency, Singapore, presented the island nation’s principles and strategies for building inclusive, resilient and sustainable cities. He elaborated on dynamic urban governance systems, integrated master planning and development, waste and water management, environmental monitoring and education.
The session was followed by presentations by Inhee Kim and Ga Hui Shin of Seoul Institute, South Korea. They discussed specific challenges the city of Seoul faced and the various redevelopment and restoration measures adopted to mitigate these challenges.
In the last session, delegates from China, Russia, European Commission and India presented specific case studies to highlight various measures to increase the financing of urban infrastructure.
The classroom sessions were complemented by field visits in Visakhapatnam to showcase three successful projects of GVMC -- the 24x7 water supply project with supply improvement and smart water management, the Mudasarlova Lake to showcase lake rejuvenation and the 2MW floating solar project for strengthened climate resiliency and Jindal Waste to Energy Plant. These highlighted private sector participation for effective solid waste management.
The workshop marks the successful closure of the two-day second infrastructure Working Group meetings of G20 here. The next meeting of the Group is scheduled on June 26-28 in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
