Bhubaneswar becomes second runner-up in World Smart City Awards 2016

Bhubaneswar finished second runner-up at World Smart City Awards 2016 held at Barcelona in Spain on Wednesday. The award ceremony was organized by Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC).

The cities were shortlisted based on the technologies used for resolving urban challenges and improving the lives of the citizens.

Bhubaneswar was selected as a finalist along with five others under the category of Innovative Global South Award, informed Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

“Bhubaneswar emerged as the second runner-up in the World Smart City Awards held at Barcelona. The recognition will help to woo more tourists to the city and will attract investors from across the world,” said Jena.

Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, has bagged the fourth place in the runners-up list. Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, secured the top spot while Morocco, a North African country, the first runner-up in the smart city list.

250 cities from 45 different countries took part in the Smart Smart City Congress. The finalists were categorized into three groups- City Award, Project Award, and Innovative Global South Award.

Bhubaneswar had submitted its proposal on “Smart City Bhubaneswar: Achieving Social Equity Through New Urbanism In Action” to the evaluating committee.

World Smart City Awards were established in order to identify cities, projects and innovative ideas in line with nurturing sustainable urban development.