Bhubaneswar: City of temples, Bhubaneswar which topped the list of Indian Smart Cities in 2016, has achieved another milestone after being included in world’s top 20 "Best Performing Smart Cities’’ list prepared by an England-based research and consulting firm.
Global Smart City Performance Index 2017, a study report published by market researcher Juniper Research and sponsored by global technology major Intel has ranked the city among the top 20 global smart cities in terms of four key areas- mobility, healthcare, public safety and productivity.
As per the index report, Bhubaneswar which is the only city from India to be included in the list has been ranked 13 in terms of public safety indicator while in other categories of Mobility, Health and Productivity it has been placed at 20th rank.
Residents of the city meanwhile have welcomed the announcement. BMC officials, including the Mayor celebrated on Tuesday.
“I heartily congratulate everyone as the announcement is a matter of pride for all of us. This will inspire us to face the challenges ahead to make the city even better. Being ranked in world’s elite cities, now footfall of tourists is definitely going to increase and therefore we have to speed up the ongoing developmental activities,” Bhubaneswar Mayor AN Jena said.
Beating the likes of London, New York and San Francisco, Singapore has emerged top in all the four categories.
Earlier, Bhubaneswar had bagged third spot at World Smart City Expo Awards in 2016 and also made it to the third best city in terms of ease of doing business in the country in November 2017.