Gurugram-based firm M3M signs MoU with Swedish firm to develop climate neutral smart city

NCR-based real estate company M3M group on December 3 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Swedish firm to develop India’s first climate-neutral smart city in Gurugram, Haryana, with an expected potential to attract foreign investment worth $2 billion.

M3M signed an agreement with Sweden-based Urban Systems urbs AB to develop a smart city project in Gurugram. The agreement was signed during the India-Sweden Business Leaders Roundtable and in the presence of Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden.

The smart city project is expected to come up on 165-acre land that M3M India bought in 2016 from the Sahara group for Rs 1,211 crore. The city will take 7 years to 10 years to be completed and will scout for foreign investments for different services.

Director of M3M Group Pankaj Bansal told reporters that the company plans to invest around Rs 2,500 crore for the project. This includes the cost of the 165-acre land parcel, which is currently valued at Rs 2,000 crore. The company plans to construct the first phase, spread across 25 acres, on its own.

Bansal, who is also developing the Trump Tower project in Gurugram, said the smart city project has the potential to attract a foreign investment of around $2 billion. This is expected to be a mixed-use development, with both residential and commercial development.

"We will act as system integrators both in terms of finance and technology. We will bring in the best in class knowledge and best in class technology and the best practices globally to create an eco-governance structure to create India's first climate neutral city," said Will Sibia, chairman, Urban Systems urbs AB, who is also Head of International Business & Strategy, Sweco AB.

Sweco AB is a European engineering consultancy company, active in the fields of construction, architecture, and environmental engineering.