REPL, Grant Thornton & ANB Consortium appointed as Consultants for Varanasi Smart City

For the implementation of the Varanasi Smart City project, the Varanasi Municipal Corporation (VMC) has appointed a consortium of three reputed firms as Project Management Consultants -Rudrabhishek Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. (REPL), Grant Thornton and ABN consulting. The agreement was signed last week in Varanasi by the Municipal Commissioner Shri Hari Pratap Sahi. REPL was represented by Mr. Harish Kumar Sharma, VP- Group Infrastructure & BD.

In the Varanasi Smart City, the approach of Area Based Development (ABD) will be taken, along with the pan-city solutions. The plan, spreading over total of 1389 acres, will include retrofitting of old city along river Ganga comprising of major temples, heritage sites & cultural places with emphasis on socio-economic growth. A massive citizen engagement program was undertaken to determine the priority areas. Consultants will prepare detailed project reports (DPR) on various components such as water supply & sewerage systems, intelligent traffic management, smart security system, heritage conservation, tourism promotion activities etc.

The vision of Varanasi Smart City is “to rejuvenate the oldest living Indian city of Varanasi as a great place to live and visit by conserving and showcasing its enriched heritage, culture, spirituality and traditions through innovative social and financial inclusion solutions”.

In an official statement, Mr. Pradeep Misra, CMD of REPL said, “The Varanasi Smart City is certainly going to be uniquely challenging for us. We feel absolutely privileged to be part of this project which has immense historic, cultural and heritage importance for the entire nation. While keeping the core essence of the city intact, we have to make the city smart, so that it becomes a model for replication. I hope we would also be able to leverage our experience and learning on our other Smart City consultancy works in Indore and Bhopal.”

Rudrabhishek Enterprises Private Limited (REPL) is India’s leading Integrated Real Estate & Infrastructure Consultants which has continuous engagement in the smart city mission of GOI. Presently with its consortium partner, REPL is also providing Project Management Consultancy on Smart City Indore. In the very first list of 20 smart cities announced by GOI, a plan prepared by REPL Consortium for Smart City Bhopal was selected. The Group has provided similar consultancy in other parts of the country, such as the 2021 redevelopment plan for the walled city of Delhi.  REPL subsidiary based at Singapore has done master town planning in various countries of South East Asia, including Malaysia and China.

REPL consortium will assist the Varanasi Smart City Ltd. in various phases of project implementation, which will include the activities such as, preparation of DPR, coordination with various appointed consultants, project prioritization & phasing, preparing capital investment plan, implementation roadmap, conducting the feasibility study, bid process management for selection of implementing agencies, overall project management etc.