Saturday, April 15, 2006

DELHI TRANSFORMING LIKE ALL ASIAN MAJOR CITIES

Taipei, April 14 (CNA) Like all other major Asian cities, Delhi is working hard to transform itself into a better metropolis, Delhi city executives said Friday on the sidelines of a cultural and tourism exhibition of major Asian cities.

Delhi is among nine cities that participated in the "Asia TransPerforming" exhibition, a subordinate event of the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC21), which ended that day in Taipei.

"Delhi's infrastructure construction is moving fast. We are reconstructing the airport and establishing a rapid transit system, and our tourism is taking off, " said Vimal Malhotra, divisional manager of the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (DSIDC), a government undertaking.

"Most people are not familiar with Delhi -- India's capital city, " DCIDC official Sharat Kumar said. "The population of Delhi is 15 million, which is two-thirds of Taiwan's population and more than that of Australia."

"Most people don't realize that you can almost do anything in Delhi on the Internet. Everything is connected on-line, " Kumar said.

The city will host the Commonwealth Games in 2010, which will be an opportunity for Delhi to show the world what it has to offer. Malhotra said: "With the direction Delhi is going at the moment, I believe people won't be disappointed."