Bhubaneswar: South African (SA) High Commissioner France K Morule, who is on a three-day visit to the state, interacted with top officials of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Friday and appreciated Smart City plans.
“South African cities can learn from Bhubaneswar. There is no final blue print for a city, as each and every city is unique. There are always common factors and we should think of twinning cities,” said Morule.
Significantly, he also indicated that South Africa is going to tie up with the Orissa government for important projects and shall extend help. As per the bilateral treaty between India and South Africa, the latter has rights to take up development projects in any Indian state.
The High Commissioner emphasised exchange of ideas between Bhubaneswar and South African cities. Officials said a leading South African city will be declared the sister city of Bhubaneswar.
Morule appreciated BMC’s welfare projects and spoke tax collection, timely service delivery and development of public utilities. Morule was a mayor before taking up his current job and had developed his city with lots of green space. The city is now known as Rose City.
Morule also requested exchange of personnel with his city and Bhubaneswar so that officers and public representatives like corporators and mayor can learn from each other.
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