Jamshedpur: The steel city can look forward to urban mass transit and hi-tech parking ties with Toyota, an industrial city in the Aichi Prefecture of Japan.
The decision to collaborate was taken after a three-hour meeting on Tuesday among representatives of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), a Japanese government agency for global collaboration; Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), an independent export institution; the East Singhbhum district administration; JNAC; and Tata Steel's civic wing Jusco.
While delegates have in principle agreed on the partnership, a deal will be inked following a formal nod from the Aichi Prefecture authorities, said JNAC special officer Sanjay Kumar Pandey, who is also the nodal officer of the project.
"There are many similarities between Jamshedpur and Toyota. Both are industrial and cosmopolitan cities having population of less than a million. Also, both are leading automobile hubs. Toyota has confronted problems that we have and come up with solutions, which it is willing to share for our benefit," said deputy commissioner Amit Kumar.
The state had proposed the names of Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro and Deoghar for "sister association" with Japanese cities such as Tokyo, Toyota, Osaka, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Saitama and Hyogo. Japan was among partner countries in Momentum Jharkhand in February 2017. The proposal for collaboration was mooted during the CM's visit to Japan the same year.
"We held a (similar) meeting with senior officials of urban development in Ranchi yesterday (Monday) on technology transfer, smart municipal governance, industrial growth, cultural exchange, tourism promotion and cyber security. We will extend the best possible support in materialising the proposed association. We have sought details of the area of interest from civic officials and put it on our homepage so that corresponding cities in Japan can match their mutual interests," said Kenjiro Hashimoto, executive director of CLAIR.
Jusco MD Ashish Mathur gave an audiovisual presentation before the Japanese delegation on the steel city's industries, demography, economy, education and culture, municipal administration, smart initiatives like sensor-based technology for civic utilities, et al. "The delegates were impressed with our use of sensor technology. However, we can look forward to their expertise in managing urban mass transit and municipal waste," he said.
Special officer Pandey said they had sought help of Toyota in technical knowhow in establishing recycle parks, use of robotics in municipal governance, hi-tech parking and urban transport.
The delegates included chief director-general of JETRO Kazuya Nakajo, assistant manager of CLAIR Min Yang Siau, deputy director of CLAIR Kawamati Eiji and JETRO official Takayaki Hirota.
