Modi’s Smart City Projects Gets Rs 1,00,000 Cr From Qatar Prince

PM Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘smart cities’ project is attracting foreign investments. Prince of Qatar Sheikh Dr. Hamad Bin Nasser A A Al-Thani , member of ruling family along with his Indian partner Mitesh Sharma is all set to invest approx Rs. 1,00,000 crores in coming years. This will be the first of its kind project in India.

The focus of this huge investment is on ten smart-city projects in a first phase, whereas, the partners have shown interest in investing in various other areas well – power, solar energy, infrastructure development, healthcare and education. They would be laying the first foundation key stone ceremony in the next three months (most probably in February-March, 2015) and if things go well, they might think of investing more.

Mitesh Sharma, a young Indian entrepreneur is handling all investment proposals in India. He is identifying various project areas and locations to be worked on. He has already met many senior officials in India. However, conclusive decisions over investments will be taken by Sheikh Dr. Hamad.

The partners had met Andhra Pradesh’s CM Chandra Babu Naidu and Uttar Pradesh’s CM Akhilesh Yadav separately while the Excellency was in India last week. On the behalf of NRS, sheikh Dr. Hamad and Mitesh have already signed a MOU in AP for a smart city project. Investments worth Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 60,000 crore will be made in Uttar Pradesh & Andhra Pradesh respectively. 38,000 crores will be diversified in sectors like power and natural gas. Moreover, the team is already working on huge investment plans for various other projects.

“The partnership between Sheikh Dr. Hamad Bin Nasser A A Al-Thani and Mitesh Sharma, is the first of its kind in India. His Excellency Sheikh Hamad is a prince of Qatar. Mitesh is a young entrepreneur who has also partnered with us in Doha. They will be working out together on these plans. Mitesh will be identifying the project areas and Sheikh will be taking decisions over investments. Mitesh is putting constant efforts and developing new ideas about developments in India.” – Qatar Office.