UP clears ‘New Noida’ to challenge Gurugram’s IT supremacy

Looking to give Haryana’s Gurugram, known as the country’s Millenium City, a run for its money, Uttar Pradesh is planning state-of-the-art city ‘New Noida’ that it aims to develop as the next IT hub.

The UP Government has approved the master plan of the ambitious project, which will be spread across 84 villages in the Dadri and Bulandshahr regions. Officials claimed the futuristic city was poised to outshine not only UP’s own investment hubs such as Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, but also the current leader Gurugram.

While Haryana is still stuck at the vision phase of its new project ‘Global City’, UP has taken the lead by approving the master plan of ‘New Noida’. ‘Global City’ is a central business district planned across 1,080 acres along the Dwarka Expressway, featuring low-carbon green infrastructure for commercial and residential sectors.

The officials said ‘New Noida’ would come up in four phases. The entire project, they said, would be completed by 2041 and was expected to transform the region into an economic powerhouse.

According to Noida Authority CEO Lokesh M, ‘New Noida’ would be built to mirror the best features of modern cosmopolitan cities. “It will be the epitome of smart city infrastructure and emphasise sustainable development, creating a seamless blend of urban life and nature. It will prioritise the use of emerging technologies to tackle environmental challenges. The master plan includes provisions for real-time monitoring, enhanced security and crowd management, and innovative solutions to urbanisation problems,” the CEO said.

It may be noted that UP is already giving jitters to neighbouring Haryana due to its futuristic expansion. It has already announced Korean and Japanese cities near the Jewar airport and is working on setting up an American city.

“UP is the future investment hub. The state government has introduced a new policy providing more sops, incentives and rebates to industries. Not only policies, we are working on providing world-class infrastructure to attract top companies,” said Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’, the UP Minister for Industrial Development, Export Promotion, NRI & Investment Promotion.

On the other hand, Haryana Industries Minister Rao Narbir Singh claimed that Haryana was still the “most preferred” industrial destination owing to ease of doing business, though he agreed infrastructure did require a boost.

“Haryana is the leader and Gurugram the IT hub, which has touched new heights over the past 10 years. The city will continue to grow leaps and bounds. Some issues need to be fixed, but these aren’t impacting investment prospects…. We will very soon have mega investments. The detailed project report for Global City should be completed soon,” added Rao Narbir.