The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : B-TRAC: Queensland keen to work with State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 12, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

B-TRAC: Queensland keen to work with State

Staff Reporter

Talks are on with Bangalore City Traffic Police, says representative

BANGALORE: The Government of the Australian State of Queensland is keen to partner the Karnataka Government in its prestigious B-TRAC 2010 project in terms of providing technological know-how.

Authorities from the Trade and Investment Office of this State, which claims to have expertise in "Streams technology", is having discussions with the Bangalore City Traffic Police and the outcome will be known in a month, said A.K. Sudeep Nambiar, Business Development Manager of Queensland Government in India.

Addressing presspersons during a conference by the Australian Trade Commission, Mr. Sudeep said that the technology would help synchronise traffic signals and coordinate traffic flow. "Sitting at the office, one can control the traffic movement on the roads. This apart, the functioning of traffic signals can be synchronised to avoid jams and pile-ups," he said.

Water scarcity

The Australian Government is also keen to exchange technology and expertise with Karnataka to tackle water scarcity, said Wayne Lewis, Commissioner to India, Victoria Government Business Office. "Water is a big issue in the State of Victoria and we also faced severe crisis for sometime. It was then that we researched and developed technology to tackle the problem. We are happy to share this expertise with India," he said.

He said the Victorian Government was interested in emulating Karnataka's expertise in tank rejuvenation, watershed development and rainwater harvesting. "Though we have rainwater harvesting, it is done only in the catchment areas. We want to adopt it all over the State," he said.

Bio-tech park

Mr. Wayne Lewis said the Victorian Government was also keen on setting up a Biotech Finishing School in Bangalore Helix, the Biotechnology Park of Bangalore.

He said his Government would apply for the project as soon as the Karnataka Government floated tenders for Expression of Interest.

The biotech park, located at Electronics City, will house the Centre for Human Genetics (for research aspects) and the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) to train quality manpower in BT.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka