AMCHAM’s Infrastructure & Smart Cities Committee met under the leadership of Mr. Anand Chidambaram, Chairman – Infrastructure & Smart Cities Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, Progressrail, Mr. Samit Ray, Co-Chairman – Infrastructure & Smart Cities Committee, AMCHAM and Regional Director – Government Affairs & Public Policy South East Asia, UTC and Mr. Ambrish Bakaya, Co-Chairman – Infrastructure & Smart Cities Committee, AMCHAM Director Corporate Affairs, HPE, in New Delhi on Aug 13th. Representatives from the Commercial Section of the U.S. Embassy were invited to the meeting.

Highlighting the lack of transparency and insight into the government perspective with regard to the status of various projects in general and the program as a whole, the committee decided to seek assistance from the Embassy to consider G2G meetings at the level of Secretary MoUD, Chairman AAI, MD DMRC, Secretary MoRTH, and Chairman Railway Board. In addition, the Embassy was also requested to facilitate similar meetings with UNDP, ADB and World Bank to enable obtaining clarity of funding planned in these sectors in the country. The Commercial Section would also assist in seeking information from their counterparts in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka with regard to government plans in corresponding sectors.

With the proposed G2G meetings and follow up round table meetings with functionaries for organized presentations detailing various aspects of projects, the committee would draw up a list of proposed projects to be funded between 2019-24, sectors being prioritized per state, timelines, DPR consultants, nodal points of contact and funds earmarked for these projects. The committee also envisaged to analyze opportunities thrown up in these deliberations and revert to the projects with specific collaborative, participative, tech supportive suggestions of AMCHAM members vis a vis their individual capability offerings.